Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!spool.mu.edu!ox.com!yale.edu!cmcl2!kramden.acf.nyu.edu!brnstnd From: brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) Newsgroups: comp.archives.admin Subject: Re: archive normal form Message-ID: <3320.Jun2705.41.5191@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> Date: 27 Jun 91 05:41:51 GMT References: <20665.Jun2617.26.1691@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> Organization: IR Lines: 42 In article emv@msen.com (Ed Vielmetti) writes: > unt-library-list vaxb.acs.unt.edu:[.library] > can't "dir [.library]"; > must "cd [.library] ; dir" vaxb.acs.unt.edu:[.library]/ Meaning: cd [.library], then dir. > gorebill nis.nsf.net:nsfnet:gorebill.1991-txt > anonymous password must be guest; > can't "get nsfnet:gorebill.1991-txt", > must "cd nsfnet; get gorebill.1991-txt" Similarly: nis.nsf.net:nsfnet/gorebill.1991-txt. *Yes*, that's a slash. The slash is just a separator in the format meaning ``cd to this before considering the rest of the name.'' > oaklisp f.gp.cs.cmu.edu:/usr/bap/oak/ftpable/ > can't "cd /usr; cd /bap"; > must "cd /usr/bap/oak/ftpable". f.gp.cs.cmu.edu:"usr/bap/oak/ftpable"/ The "" turn off any special meaning of the slashes, so this parses as cd usr/bap/oak/ftpable, then dir. Here, let me settle the quoting issues: "" and '' are both quoting characters, and both completely equivalent. Absolutely no interpretation goes on after a " or ' except to find the terminating " or '. That covers all cases: you quote " as '"', and ' as "'". And, for a final proof that this works: athena-dist.mit.edu:pub/kerberos5/"dist/xxxxxx"/krb5.src.tar.Z (Sorry, folks, xxxxxx is a United States national secret. Not allowed to say it in public.) Do you see any problems, Ed? ---Dan