Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!cmcl2!adm!xadmx!drears@ardec.arpa
From: drears@ardec.arpa (Dennis G. Rears (FSAC))
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re:  fixing rm * (was: Worm/Passwords)
Message-ID: <17589@adm.BRL.MIL>
Date: 19 Nov 88 17:50:55 GMT
Sender: news@adm.BRL.MIL
Lines: 13


J A Biep Durieux writes:

>At the very least, 'rm * .o' should refuse to do anything when the file '.o'
>doesn't exist.

    "rm" doesn't see the *. The shell does all the expansion. All rm
sees is the options and a list of file names.  If you don't like the
actions of rm, either change it by making the interactive option the
default or write you own.  rm does what you tell it do nothing more
nothing less.  Gee, I wish my boss was like that :-).

Dennis