Re: The "*" character (was: Latex )
Hi Mark --
You said:
> Very strange. Here is what I did on my system under bash:
>
> (mark, destiny)$ ls
> Maelstrom gnuchessc maelstrom xonix
> Maelstrom_sound gnuchessn mirrormagic xp-replay
> acm gnuchessr nethack xpat2
> acms gnuchessx postprint xpilot
> cmail gnugo pxboard xpilots
> fortune gnushogi xasteroids xshogi
> game gnushogir xbattle xsok
> gnuan gnushogix xboard xtet42
> gnuchess kill-acms xinvaders xtron
> (mark, destiny)$ dpkg -l *tex*
> Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge
> | Status=Not/Installed/Config-files/Unpacked/Failed-config/Half-installed
> |/ Err?=(none)/Hold/Reinst-required/X=both-problems (Status,Err: uppercase=ba
d)
> ||/ Name Version Description
> +++-===============-==============-==========================================
==
> un X11-text-viewer <none> (no description available)
> pn amslatex <none> (no description available)
> pn amstex <none> (no description available)
> pn auctex <none> (no description available)
> pn bibtex <none> (no description available)
> pn gettext <none> (no description available)
> pn hyperlatex <none> (no description available)
> pn latex <none> (no description available)
> pn latex2e-doc <none> (no description available)
> pn latex2rtf <none> (no description available)
> ii nb-tex 2.1-1 NTeX package
> ii nb-texi 2.1-1 NTeX package
> ii ntex 2.1-1 NTeX package
> ii nx-etex 2.1-1 NTeX package
> ii nx-mtex 2.1-1 NTeX package
> un tex <none> (no description available)
> pn texbin <none> (no description available)
> pn texidoc <none> (no description available)
> ii texinfo 3.7-1 The GNU Project's documentation formatting
s
> pn texlib <none> (no description available)
> pn texpsfnt <none> (no description available)
> pn textfm <none> (no description available)
> ii textutils 1.19-1 The GNU text file processsing utilities.
> ii untex 9210-4 Remove LaTeX commands from input.
>
>
> (Which incidently is the same as what I get when I use the quotes)
>
What you got was correct.
Your directory listing shows no files which match *tex*. Therefore,
the shell couldn't expand *tex* to anything in your directory, and
therefore passed the string *tex* to dpkg, which expanded it on its own.
If:
-- you have a file whose name matches *tex* in the current working directory,
AND
if the name of that file _is not_ the name of a Debian package,
then dpkg wouldn't be able to infer its status. You'd get a message
"No packages found matching <whatever file you had that matched *tex*>."
-- you have a file whose name matches *tex* in the current working directory,
AND
if the name of the file _is_ the name of a Debian package,
then dpkg -l would be able to look up its status and report it.
-- you do not have a file whose name matches *tex* in the current working
directory,
then the shell passes *tex* to dpkg, which expands the regexp in its
administrative directories.
HTH,
Susan
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