Re: The "*" character (was: Latex )

["Susan G. Kleinmann" <sgk@sgk.tiac.net>]

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