On 24-Aug-22 1:41 pm, Sylvia Else wrote:

If I do

X="my[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir"
echo $X

the output is unexpectedly

my spc dir

but do

X="m[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir"
echo $X

and the output is the expected

m[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir

Indeed, I cannot find any change to my original assignment that leads to
the unexpected behaviour.

Is there some logic behind this, or have I stumbled, completely by
chance, onto some bizarre "easter egg", and thereby lost considerable
time, and some amount of hair?

What the hell.........?

Sylvia.

OK, seem it's pattern matching against a directory of that name, with
the embedded spaces in its name, which is how this pattern matching
pattern arose in the first place.

All I need to do now is find out where it's documented that it will do
that without being expressly told to.

Sylvia.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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If I do

X="my[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir"
echo $X

the output is unexpectedly

my spc dir

but do

X="m[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir"
echo $X

and the output is the expected

m[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir

Indeed, I cannot find any change to my original assignment that leads to
the unexpected behaviour.

Is there some logic behind this, or have I stumbled, completely by
chance, onto some bizarre "easter egg", and thereby lost considerable
time, and some amount of hair?

What the hell.........?

Sylvia.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 24-Aug-22 2:05 pm, Sylvia Else wrote:

On 24-Aug-22 1:41 pm, Sylvia Else wrote:

If I do

X="my[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir"
echo $X

the output is unexpectedly

my spc dir

but do

X="m[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir"
echo $X

and the output is the expected

m[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir

Indeed, I cannot find any change to my original assignment that leads
to the unexpected behaviour.

Is there some logic behind this, or have I stumbled, completely by
chance, onto some bizarre "easter egg", and thereby lost considerable
time, and some amount of hair?

What the hell.........?

Sylvia.

OK, seem it's pattern matching against a directory of that name, with
the embedded spaces in its name, which is how this pattern matching
pattern arose in the first place.

All I need to do now is find out where it's documented that it will do
that without being expressly told to.

Sylvia.

Pathname expansion. Disable by set -f, enable again by set +f

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On Wed, 24 Aug 2022 13:41:18 +1000
Sylvia Else <[email protected]d> wrote:

If I do

X="my[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir"
echo $X

the output is unexpectedly

my spc dir

[...]

comp.unix.shell is a better place for shell questions.

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Sylvia Else <[email protected]d> writes:

Pathname expansion. Disable by set -f, enable again by set +f

That’s a global setting. The usual approach is to quote all string
expansions except the few where you want pathname expansion.

richard@araminta:~$ x="j*"
richard@araminta:~$ echo $x
junk
richard@araminta:~$ echo "$x"
j*

--
https://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/

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On 24-Aug-22 5:26 pm, Richard Kettlewell wrote:

Sylvia Else <[email protected]d> writes:

Pathname expansion. Disable by set -f, enable again by set +f

That’s a global setting. The usual approach is to quote all string expansions except the few where you want pathname expansion.

richard@araminta:~$ x="j*"
richard@araminta:~$ echo $x
junk
richard@araminta:~$ echo "$x"
j*

Yes. Unfortunately, in this case I need word splitting, just not path
name expansion.

Sylvia.

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Sylvia Else <[email protected]d> writes:

Richard Kettlewell wrote:

Sylvia Else <[email protected]d> writes:

Pathname expansion. Disable by set -f, enable again by set +f

That’s a global setting. The usual approach is to quote all string
expansions except the few where you want pathname expansion.
richard@araminta:~$ x="j*"
richard@araminta:~$ echo $x
junk
richard@araminta:~$ echo "$x"
j*

Yes. Unfortunately, in this case I need word splitting, just not path
name expansion.

Less weird languages are available...

--
https://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/

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On 24-Aug-22 11:12 pm, Richard Kettlewell wrote:

Sylvia Else <[email protected]d> writes:

Richard Kettlewell wrote:

Sylvia Else <[email protected]d> writes:

Pathname expansion. Disable by set -f, enable again by set +f

That’s a global setting. The usual approach is to quote all string
expansions except the few where you want pathname expansion.
richard@araminta:~$ x="j*"
richard@araminta:~$ echo $x
junk
richard@araminta:~$ echo "$x"
j*

Yes. Unfortunately, in this case I need word splitting, just not path
name expansion.

Less weird languages are available...

True.

I'm invoking a lot of standard utilities. However, I've come to think
I'd have been better off invoking them from a more conventional
programming languages.

Oh well.

Sylvia.

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Sylvia Else <[email protected]d> wrote:

If I do

X="my[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir"
echo $X

the output is unexpectedly

my spc dir

Not for me:

salfter@salfter ~ $ X="my[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir"
salfter@salfter ~ $ echo $X
my[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir

What version of bash are you using? Mine returns this for bash --version:

GNU bash, version 5.1.16(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)

This is on Gentoo Linux running in WSL 2 on Win11. Another host running
Gentoo on the metal behaves the same way.

--
_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

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On Wed, 24 Aug 2022 15:54:20 +0000, scott wrote:

Sylvia Else <[email protected]d> wrote:

If I do

X="my[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir"
echo $X

the output is unexpectedly

my spc dir

Not for me:

salfter@salfter ~ $ X="my[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir" salfter@salfter ~
$ echo $X my[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir

I think it's been established that the behaviour is dependent on having
files in the current directory that match the pattern.



--
Using UNIX since v6 (1975)...

Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org

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Bob Eager <[email protected]> wrote:

On Wed, 24 Aug 2022 15:54:20 +0000, scott wrote:

Sylvia Else <[email protected]d> wrote:

If I do

X="my[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir"
echo $X

the output is unexpectedly

my spc dir

Not for me:

salfter@salfter ~ $ X="my[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir" salfter@salfter ~
$ echo $X my[[:space:]]spc[[:space:]]dir

I think it's been established that the behaviour is dependent on having
files in the current directory that match the pattern.

Yeah...saw that shortly after I'd posted. That's what happens when you
don't read the whole thread first. :)

--
_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( https://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)