Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!ncc!alberta!att-ih!gargoyle!oddjob!matt
From: matt@oddjob.UChicago.EDU (Stop calling me Fred)
Newsgroups: comp.bugs.4bsd
Subject: Re: C-shell alias bug or bug in user circuitry?
Message-ID: <14671@oddjob.UChicago.EDU>
Date: 18 Apr 88 14:25:02 GMT
References: <2@orphan.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: Up against the wall of SCIENCE
Lines: 16
Keywords: csh alias bug

In article <2@orphan.UUCP> conor@orphan.UUCP (Conor S. Rafferty) writes:

) I have an alias, called "a".  When executed as "a 1 2" it performs
) normally.  When executed as "a 1 1", csh leaves my shell hanging in
) the subsidiary prompt and a ^D is necessary to escape, leaving a
) "missing the/endif" complaint.
) orphan conor% alias a
) if !:^ != !:$ then; echo !:$ ; endif

It's true that the csh does not properly parse its input.  A simpler
alias does what you want:

	alias a if \( \!:^ \!= \!:\$ \) echo \!:\$
________________________________________________________
Matt	     University		matt@oddjob.uchicago.edu
Crawford     of Chicago     {astrovax,ihnp4}!oddjob!matt