On Thu, Nov 18, 2021 at 03:14:16AM +1100, Reuben ua Bríġ wrote: > > Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2021 01:30:25 +1100 > > From: Reuben ua Bríġ <[email protected]> > > > > Does anyone know of any shell and utilities where, for example, if > > > > -rf > > > > is a file name, the rm utility will understand so, and not think it > > is a controlling flag (ugh! in-band signalling)? One where an array > > of strings can be past as a single argument? Etc? etc? > > > Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2021 01:38:14 +1100 > > From: Reuben ua Bríġ <[email protected]> > > > > correction: is a file name expanded from a pattern, ... > > I have gotten a number of replies that quite miss the point. I gave rm > as a simple and readily understandable toy problem. The '--' trick is
Using -- is not a "trick". > all very well if you only need one array of strings, but useless if you > need more. What is the "more" you need? > I felt a more elegant solution would be a shell that can pass an array > of strings as an argument, just as C can, and knows when to do so, > rather than having each string as an argument. I wanted to know if > there is already a shell that accomplishes that.--No need to reinvent > the shell if someone has done so already. Just make a habit of calling your utilities with -- to delimit options from operands, especially if the operands are supplied from patterns or other input that could result in words starting with a dash. This is not a trick. Just common sense shell scripting practice. > I do not need advice on how to use the UNIX shell and utilities. (Yuck!) You're implying otherwise. -- Andreas (Kusalananda) Kähäri SciLifeLab, NBIS, ICM Uppsala University, Sweden .
