Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!apple!oliveb!amiga!cbmvax!daveh
From: daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: AmigaDos vs Unix wildcards/pathnames
Message-ID: <6235@cbmvax.UUCP>
Date: 13 Mar 89 18:14:30 GMT
References: <11135@ut-emx.UUCP>
Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA
Lines: 56

in article <11135@ut-emx.UUCP>, mjl@ut-emx.UUCP (Maurice LeBrun) says:
> Keywords: Amigados unix filesystem

> A topic rises from the grave..

> I too am a bit ambivalent about the pathnames, but would rather the
> Unix style be supported.  As far as wildcards go, the #? symbol is
> irritating and the following is an atrocity:

#? is actually two symbols.  You can use them separately.  UNIX is redundant
in having both * and ?, and it's missing a "#" equivalent, isn't it.  And
how would you succinctly state:

	Delete #?(.cp|.h|%) 

in UNIX-ese?


> 1> copy (*.c|*.h) t:    (what's wrong with `cp *.c *.h t:' ??)

That's a detail of the AmigaDOS copy program, not the wild card system.
That you can express the equivalent of the UNIX cp program using Amiga
wild cards is a example of their power.  If you don't like the Amiga
copy command syntax:

	Copy file1 file2/directory

rather than the UNIX syntax:

	cp file1 file2
	cp file1 ... [fileN]] directory

then you should complain about the command, not the wildcards.

> Funny thing is, it reminds me of the directory specification in VMS,
> which I also hate (ouch! those brackets), despite having used it for
> years.

I hate VMS brackets too.  I think all forms of intelligent life feel the
same way.  The "(" ")" in AmigaDOS isn't at all related.  The UNIX 
analog in wild card construction is "[" "]".

> Unix compatibility may be important, no?  Somewhere I must have missed
> it, did anyone scream this several hundred times, and I just missed it?

UNIX compatibility is important in UNIX systems, not VMS, MS-DOS, Amiga,
or Apollo systems, each of which uses somewhat different wild card
conventions.  UNIX and Amiga wild cards are significantly more powerful
than VMS or MS-DOS.  Apollo Aegis wild cards are just plain weird, though
on very simple level look like a UNIX/Amiga hybrid.

> Maurice LeBrun		      |   "So then I says to Borg, `You know,
-- 
Dave Haynie  "The 32 Bit Guy"     Commodore-Amiga  "The Crew That Never Rests"
   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh      PLINK: D-DAVE H     BIX: hazy
              Amiga -- It's not just a job, it's an obsession