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From: jdz@wucec2.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Subject: Re: Re: C-Shell weirdness
Message-ID: <1520@wucec2.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 1-Apr-86 13:57:14 EST
Article-I.D.: wucec2.1520
Posted: Tue Apr  1 13:57:14 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Apr-86 01:38:33 EST
References: <676@nbires.UUCP> <2021@hao.UUCP> <196@cfa.UUCP> <2365@teddy.UUCP>
Reply-To: jdz@wucec2.UUCP (Jason D. Zions)
Distribution: net
Organization: Wash. U. Center for Engineering Computing
Lines: 22

In article <2365@teddy.UUCP> jpn@teddy.UUCP (John P. Nelson) writes:
>Uh, all csh variables (except argv) will always have ONE element unless you
>used the set notation when setting their value.  The way to create a variable
>with zero elements is:
>
>set hosed = ()

Not quite. If you use execution quotes (i.e. `foo`) you can get variables
with zero elements. I have a shell script which returns a list of users doing
slightly anti-social things on our network of student machines; I do this:

set abusers=`anti-social_stuff`; if ($#abusers) flog $abusers ; unset abusers

Which flogs anyti-social abusers, if any. If the shell script returns nothing
(i.e. send nothing to its stdout) then abusers has zero elements. Which is how
one would hope it would behave.
-- 
Jason D. Zions			...!{seismo,cbosgd,ihnp4}!wucs!wucec2!jdz
Washington University Center for Engineering Computing
Box 1045
St. Louis MO 63130  USA		(314) 889-5097
No need to disclaim - they know I'm doing this!