> From: "Philip Oakley" <[email protected]> > > Recently there have been a couple of example commands that have a single > dot '.' in the command line. > > In this case what is its proper meaning, that is, is it expanded by the > bash shell, or by git it self, and what would its typical expanded > version look like if it is the current dicetory e.g. fully qualified > etc. ? > > (I ask as someone more familiar with Windows, so some of the linux stuff > can still be a mystery ;-)
"." means the current directory. But it is interpreted as such by the OS itself. The shell passes it to the program as the string ".", and programs generally deal with "." without replacing it with the absolute path of the current directory. When ".", or a path starting with "./", is used in an OS call, the OS knows what directory is designated. (Which could actually change if the program makes the chdir() call.) Extra strange: In Unix-like system, if, while the program is running, you move that current directory to somewhere else in the file tree, the absolute name of the program's current directory changes, of course. But the directory's *identity* is unchanged, and the program is generally unaware that the continents have shifted. Except when it does actually matter, which can lead to remarkably puzzling bugs. Dale -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Git for human beings" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
