🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1990Sep21.104931.9205@canterbury.ac.nz> phys169@canterbury.ac.nz writes:
[...]
   (d) if any parameters start with an "@", and your program has no special
   reason for accepting parameters starting with an "@", expand the filename
   following the "@" (if possible) by including the contents of that file in
   the command line at that point.

AAARRGGGH!  Exactly what we don't need is making a new set of filenames (that
is, the filenames starting with '@') unusable.  The filename space is small
enough in MS-DOS as it is (yes, I know, many programs do already use '@' as a
include-data-from-this-file character -- it is a BAD choice nonetheless).
I hate it when I have to type ".\@files" just to get at a file which happens
to have this name.  Some MS-DOS utilities are even "smart" enough to BREAK
the line after the ".\", try to include "@files" at the command line and THEN
COMPLAIN ABOUT THE LEADING ".\" BEING SYNTACTICALLY INCORRECT !
Why not use a character like '+' or some such which is already illegal in
MeSsy-DOS filenames in the first place ?
--
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