Re: How to handle whitespace in filenames ???
On Wed, 19 Dec 2001 20:50:31 -0800
Craig Dickson <crdic@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Christoph Simon wrote:
>
> > Someone already stated that the space is a token separator (in many
> > computer related contexts, not just limited to unix like OSs, but
> > including MS-Windows). Also, if you find your for-loop
> > counter-intuitive, you are demonstrating to use variables without
> > bearing in mind their meaning. If you find `counter-intuitive' that a
> > space is a token separator, why did you use it between the tokens?
> > shouldn't you suggest another character instead?
>
> You totally missed the point. The space was in a quoted string. The Unix
> shells understand quoted strings, but the quotes are lost when such strings
> are assigned to variables, so when the variable is expanded, the quoted
> string becomes multiple strings. Which is a useful ability to have, but
> it shouldn't be the default.
No, I did not miss the point. You did use the space character
ambiguously. That's the reason why it broke. The shell is logically
consistent. You will experience the same problem in all OSs as soon as
you introduce an ambiguity.
> I am not "demonstrating to use variables without bearing in mind their
> meaning". I am demonstrating a semantic irregularity in the functioning
> of the common Unix shells, and I have already mentioned that there are a
> number of well-known problems, including breakage of filenames with
> spaces, but ALSO including security compromises resulting from the
> expansion of variables whose values were read from user input (e.g. in
> cgi scripts) which trace DIRECTLY to this semantic irregularity.
They are still ambigous. It's not a bug in the shell, but between your
screen and your chair. Quotes are eliminated upon expansion by
definition. In all OS. You didn't respect that definition. It's like
one of those jokes which seem to proof that 4 + 4 = 9.
> > Unfortunately people like those from StarOffice, Gnome, etc. think
> > like you, that typing commands is anacronic.
>
> I've said nothing to suggest any such thing. I like command lines. That
> you think I've said otherwise speaks very poorly for your reading
> comprehension skills.
Hm. If you like command lines, how is it that you pretend to use them
inconsistently?
--
Christoph Simon
ciccio@kiosknet.com.br
---
^X^C
q
quit
:q
^C
end
x
exit
ZZ
^D
?
help
.
Reply to: