Hmm I'd say mostly because it used not to have to. Indeed it would break quite a few things. The standard separator for command line parameters, for example, is the space character. The usual way of parsing is to break up the parameters based on the number of spaces so things like $1 $2 $3 work in shell scripts. I suspect in order to stay posix compliant (i.e. not break earlier software) you would have to either use quoted strings when referring to files with spaces, or do what MacOSX does and use the backslash symbol before the space. While we are on that topic, I would imagine if you supported UTF8 / i8n then the space problem kind of goes away because all filenames then become somewhat "unprintable".
Regards, Jill. -----Original Message----- From: Stuart Guthrie [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, 7 August 2003 9:52 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [SLUG] basename & files and paths with embedded spaces Bug or feature: I'm wondering why the standard basename and dirname commands in gnu do not handle spaces in file names and paths. I guess there is a good reason why we need to code around it - ie it would break lots of other stuff to fix it. Question: Is there any /bin/sh script out there that handles this? Googling has so far been fruitless. Looks like I might have to bsh it. Stu -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group - http://slug.org.au/ More Info: http://lists.slug.org.au/listinfo/slug ---------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT NOTICES This email (including any documents referred to in, or attached, to this email) may contain information that is personal, confidential or the subject of copyright or other proprietary rights in favour of Aristocrat, its affiliates or third parties. This email is intended only for the named addressee. Any privacy, confidence, copyright or other proprietary rights in favour of Aristocrat, its affiliates or third parties, is not lost because this email was sent to you by mistake. If you received this email by mistake you should: (i) not copy, disclose, distribute or otherwise use it, or its contents, without the consent of Aristocrat or the owner of the relevant rights; (ii) let us know of the mistake by reply email or by telephone (+61 2 9413 6300); and (iii) delete it from your system and destroy all copies. Any personal information contained in this email must be handled in accordance with applicable privacy laws. Electronic and internet communications can be interfered with or affected by viruses and other defects. As a result, such communications may not be successfully received or, if received, may cause interference with the integrity of receiving, processing or related systems (including hardware, software and data or information on, or using, that hardware or software). Aristocrat gives no assurances in relation to these matters. If you have any doubts about the veracity or integrity of any electronic communication we appear to have sent you, please call +61 2 9413 6300 for clarification. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group - http://slug.org.au/ More Info: http://lists.slug.org.au/listinfo/slug
