Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!lll-winken!uunet!mcvax!jansteen
From: jansteen@cwi.nl (Jan van der Steen)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: ksh MAILPATH variable
Keywords: mail, MAIL, MAILPATH, ksh
Message-ID: <507@turing.cwi.nl>
Date: 16 Mar 89 10:25:27 GMT
Organization: CWI, Amsterdam
Lines: 27

We are running ksh version 06/03/86 in a BSD 4.3 environment.

Does anybody have a clue why:

	MAILPATH=$MAIL?'$(/bin/mail)'

doesn't work?

According to the man page, ksh echo's the argument following
the question mark while performing parameter and command
substitution.

So $(/bin/mail) should result in executing /bin/mail.
Our version only echo's "$(/bin/mail)"

By the way:

	MAILPATH=$MAIL?'You have mail [pwd = $PWD]'

does work.


-- 
	-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
   	 Jan van der Steen,		CWI the Netherlands
   	 jansteen@cwi.nl	  (or uunet!mcvax!jansteen)
	-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-