Re: getting back to the prompt with &
Xavier Bergade <xavier@rocketfuel.com> writes:
XB> you type ls& at the prompt.
XB> why the task is not complete until you press return?
XB> Is it possible to get the task done without any key press ?
It's not clear what you're asking here. Do you want to type "l s &"
(no RET) and have a directory listing show up? While you might be
able to configure your shell to do this, it prevents you from typing
anything else on the line. My shell (zsh) supports a "&!" modifier at
the end of the line, as well as just "&", and this would be impossible
with this setup. It also prevents you from typing more commands
(i.e. "make &; ls &").
Sometimes, though, things happen in a non-intuitive way. You type
"l s & RET", and see a directory listing with no shell prompt. There
actually _is_ a shell prompt, and if you type "ls" again without
pressing RET first, you'll get another directory listing. What
happens:
-- You type "ls &".
-- Shell starts another process to do the directory listing.
-- Shell prints its next prompt and starts waiting for input.
-- ls starts up and prints a directory listing.
Pressing RET here causes the shell to say to itself, "oh, we just got
an empty line, let's display another prompt." The ls process is
actually finished here.
HTH...
--
_____________________________
/ \ "The cat's been in the box for over
| David Maze | 20 years. Nobody's feeding it. The
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| http://donut.mit.edu/dmaze/ | -- Grant, on Schroedinger's Cat
\_____________________________/
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