Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!jpl-devvax!lwall
From: lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Re: Novice surprise
Message-ID: <11396@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>
Date: 12 Feb 91 02:48:25 GMT
References: <cbhl9z200VsnE1=K1b@andrew.cmu.edu> <11393@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> <fuchs.666322665@tmipi4>
Reply-To: lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall)
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
Lines: 20

In article <fuchs.666322665@tmipi4> fuchs@tmipi4.telematik.informatik.uni-karlsruhe.de (Harald Fuchs) writes:
: lwall@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Larry Wall) writes:
: 
: >I think that most people avoid the problem by not using filenames beginning
: >with + or >.  If you really want to write a bulletproof script, you might
: >put the following before the initial loop:
: 
: >for (@ARGV) { s#^([^/])#./$1#; s#$#\0#; }
: >while (<>) {...
: 
: Shouldn't that be
:   for (@ARGV) { s#^[^./]#./$&#; s#$#\0#; }
: Note the period:     ^

You can if it makes you feel better, but it doesn't hurt (much) to add an
extra ./ on the front of any relative pathname (even those beginning with .
or ..).  The current directory will even be in the cache already, so there's
no extra disk access.

Larry