On Wed, Oct 22, 2014 at 8:37 AM, Christopher Zimmermann
<[email protected]> wrote:
> $ sed -e "{ y/o/u/ }"
> sed: 1: "{ y/o/u/ }": extra text at the end of a transform command
>
> but this is allowed according to the manual:
>
> Functions can be combined to form a function list, a list of sed
> functions separated by newlines, as follows:
>
> { function
> function
> ...
> function
> }
>
> The `{' can be preceded or followed by whitespace. The function can be
> preceded by whitespace as well. The terminating `}' must be preceded by
> a newline or optional whitespace.
That looks like a documentation bug to me. To quote the POSIX spec:
----------
[2addr] {editing command
editing command
...
} Execute a list of sed editing commands only when the pattern space
is selected. The
list of sed editing commands shall be surrounded by
braces and separated by
<newline> characters, and conform to the following
rules. The braces can be
preceded or followed by <blank> characters. The
editing commands can be
preceded by <blank> characters, but shall not be
followed by <blank> characters.
The <right-brace> shall be preceded by a <newline>
and can be preceded or
followed by <blank> characters.
----------
So the newline before the close-brace is required. Since the code
matches the spec, I think we should change the doc to match both of
them. Or is there some reason this extension is required?
Philip Guenther
