Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!uunet!cbmvax!jesup From: jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup) Newsgroups: comp.os.misc Subject: Re: shell architecture (to glob or not to glob) Message-ID: <19501@cbmvax.commodore.com> Date: 5 Mar 91 00:05:34 GMT References: <378@bria> <19062@cbmvax.commo <5615@awdprime.UUCP> Reply-To: jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup) Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA Lines: 37 In article peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes: >Better than standardizing on unadorned keywords for switches. Try deleting >a file named "all" on AmigaDOS. Delete "all" If I had the option of redoing AmigaDos from ground zero (which I don't, we're stuck with a lot of Tripos-derived conventions), I would use a convention like Stratus VOS uses, where keywords always have - in front of them (-all, for example). You would still have to quote it, but it becomes more obvious that it's something you should consider quoting. In this case, it would be Delete "-all". >The problem here is that there are no spare characters you can type into the >shell that aren't legal in UNIX file names. This is true on many recent >operating systems, as the advantages of files named "Joe's Report Part #1" >have become obvious. Yup. Though you are left with a few illegal characters in filenames, like the directory separator ('/' in unix/amigados). Spaces in particular are good to have, especially if people are largely interfacing via GUI's. Having spaces in filenames kills shell-globbing to a large extent, or requires it to quote the arguments itself. >(what does this have to do with comp.arch?) I dunno. Software discussions often start there, especially when the interaction between software and hardware is involved, or when something wanders over to software architecture (it's comp.arch, not comp.hw.arch, not comp.cpu.arch - perhaps it should be split). -- Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering. {uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com BIX: rjesup The compiler runs Like a swift-flowing river I wait in silence. (From "The Zen of Programming") ;-)