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From: jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell
Subject: Re: Question about 'test' (Was Re: testing if a file is present)
Message-ID: <1990Dec2.211507.13453@athena.mit.edu>
Date: 2 Dec 90 21:15:07 GMT
References: <ger.659126250@prisma> <1990Nov21.191638.19469@athena.mit.edu> <QPLIU.90Nov29205347@phoenix.princeton.edu> <1990Dec2.210141.13170@athena.mit.edu>
Sender: daemon@athena.mit.edu (Mr Background)
Reply-To: jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens)
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Lines: 22

In article <1990Dec2.210141.13170@athena.mit.edu>, I write:
|> In article <QPLIU.90Nov29205347@phoenix.princeton.edu>, qpliu@phoenix.princeton.edu (q.p.liu) writes:
|> |> trying /bin/[ shows that it only checks if argv[0] == "[".
|> 
|>   Then either you did something wrong, or you're using a buggy version of
|> "test."

  I corrected q.p.liu because I misunderstood what he was saying, and just
realized this, so I'd like to apologize.  He was saying, "`Test' only checks
if the final `]' is present if it is invoked with argv[0] exactly equal to
`['."  I thought he was saying, "`Test' only checks if its argv[0] is exactly
equal to `['; it does not also check if the final ']' is present."

  Liu is right, of course.  Whether or not this behavior of "test" (i.e. the
distinguishing between "[" and "/bin/[") is correct is debatable, but I
believe that it is.

-- 
Jonathan Kamens			              USnail:
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