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Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mailrus!ames!oliveb!sun!gorodish!guy
From: guy@gorodish.Sun.COM (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: command line options
Message-ID: <48963@sun.uucp>
Date: 9 Apr 88 21:18:17 GMT
References: <2414@zyx.UUCP> <8039@elsie.UUCP> <7628@brl-smoke.ARPA> <10219@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com>
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Follwup-To: comp.unix.wizards


> >The first time around I get the right result--a usage message.  The second
> >time, though, the contents of "-x" is dumped in wide format.
> 
> That's because the shell is expanding -? to "-w -x". If there is no
> match, the shell leaves the -? alone.

I think he already knew that - that was his whole point!  He gave a real, not a
hypothetical, case where the shell *will* expand "-?"  to something, rather
than leaving it alone, and therefore where "-?" won't do what it has, on
occasion, been claimed to do.

"-?" is *NOT* guaranteed to give you a usage message, with *ANY* shell, unless
you put it in quotes.