On Mon, 2008-04-28 at 10:22 -0400, Paul Fox wrote: > > Completely agree! "-n" clearly means a non-empty string. Without the "-n" > or > > "-z", are we interested in the variable's string or numerical vaue? > > the string. that's how it's defined, and always has been.
Not that it matters, but I've been shell scripting since the 1980's and I STILL have to go look up -n and -z half the time to make sure I've got them correct. That info must live in a soft part of my brain (not that there are many other parts these days). Personally I don't find the mnemonics for -n and -z obvious AT ALL. I think BOTH of them look like they mean "empty": -n for "nothing" and -z for "zero" (length). Saying "-n" means "non-empty" is some bizarre double-negative thing which I can't grok. My "clean-o-meter" barfs it up. But, I don't care about this personally: I'm just pointing out that -n and -z are not more obvious to everyone, even people who know a lot about scripting. I often use case statements to compare variables since it's faster when "[" and test are not shell built-ins. P.P.S. Bikesheds must be brown. Obviously. _______________________________________________ busybox mailing list [email protected] http://busybox.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/busybox
