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From: gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn )
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: /bin/test and stat(2)
Message-ID: <6551@brl-smoke.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 10-Oct-87 01:18:03 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-smok.6551
Posted: Sat Oct 10 01:18:03 1987
Date-Received: Mon, 12-Oct-87 04:45:06 EDT
References: <9721@brl-adm.ARPA>
Reply-To: gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn (VLD/VMB) <gwyn>)
Organization: Ballistic Research Lab (BRL), APG, MD.
Lines: 19

In article <9721@brl-adm.ARPA> franco@MIKEY.BBN.COM (Frank A. Lonigro) writes:
>I agree with Boyd.  I was the one who initially brought this subject to
>unix-wizards and I appreciate all the responses, but I'm afraid no-one
>has answered my original questions.

I don't believe you've understood the responses!
There is NOT usually special code in utilities such as
"test" to convert an empty-string filename into ".".
Rather, the commands just pass WHATEVER you supply to
them, empty string or non-empty string, to the kernel.
The KERNEL accepts an empty string as a filename and
interprets it as meaning the current working directory.
This IS "documented" in some old UNIX papers,
but there is NO POINT to trying to document it
for specific commands, bvecause it is a generic
property of filenames, not of any particular command.

Note that only SOME implementations of the UNIX kernel
interpret "" like this, so you should not rely on it.