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From: dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.shell
Subject: Re: Question about 'test'
Message-ID: <2640@charon.cwi.nl>
Date: 4 Dec 90 12:15:50 GMT
References: <QPLIU.90Nov29205347@phoenix.princeton.edu> <1779@seti.inria.fr> <987@mwtech.UUCP>
Sender: news@cwi.nl
Organization: CWI, Amsterdam
Lines: 31

In article <987@mwtech.UUCP> martin@mwtech.UUCP (Martin Weitzel) writes:
 > In article <1779@seti.inria.fr> deschamp@seti.inria.fr writes:
 > :What I do not understand is this:
 > :	$ '['
 > :	test: ] missing
 > :	$ PATH=/bin '['
 > :	test: ] missing
 > :	$ /bin/[
 > :	$
 > 
 > This shows exactly what original poster tried to say (as I understood).
 > To make it a bit clearer, the source-code of "test" must look like
 > 	if (!strcmp(argv[0], "[")) {
 > 		if (strcmp(argv[--argc], "]") {
 > 			/* complain about missing "]" and exit */
 > 			.....
 > 		}
 > 	}
 > 	/* parse arguments; run tests as required */
 > 	.....
 > 
 > In your last experiment argv[0] is "/bin/[" and not simply "[", hence no
 > comlaint.

Exactly, just try:
	[ -f foo ]
and
	/bin/[ -f foo ]
--
dik t. winter, cwi, amsterdam, nederland
dik@cwi.nl