🚀 go-pugleaf

The direction of slashes depends on the shell you use.  The PC shells
traditionally have used backslash.  The underlying operating system
doesn't care.  The API accepts either with relish and mustard.  The
Hamilton C shell which I am not sure is ready for OS/2 accepts forward
for a about a $300 ticket as does the MKS Korn shell for about the same.
The Korn shell is not ready yet for OS/2.
-- 
Bob Cain    rcain@netcom.com   408-358-2007

"There are some strings.  They're just not attached."
                                                    Victoria Roberts

From article <1992Apr12.015629.10185@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>, by leblanc@eecg.toronto.edu (Marcel LeBlanc):
> Does HPFS allow the use of forward slash to delimit directory names in a
> path?  I mean, can I type "here/down/there/file.mine" or do I have to type
> "here\down\there\file.mine"?  Also, do I use an initial "/" (or "\") to
> indicate that the path is relative to root?

No, you cannot use the forward slash to delimit directory names (at least
with the command shell/file system shipped with OS/2...it is certainly
possible for someone to make a command shell that uses forward slashes, so
you will have to type here/down/there/file.mine.  Yes, you need to use an
initial \ to indicate that the path is relative to the root (that is, 
unless you happen to already be in the root :)

> Also, are softlinks supported?  Across volumes?  Are hard links available?

The OS/2 equivalent of links is shadows in WPS, which are sort of a cross
between soft and hard links...it's a slightly different concept...  True
soft links and true hard links do not exist (at least with the default command
shell).

Just to clarify on the "slash" issue: the OS/2 file systems (both DOS
and HPFS) allow you to to use either the forward or backward slash in
pathnames.  So you can do this in your program:

	DosOpen("/usr/include/stdio.h",...)

However, the standard command shell and other programs provided with
OS/2 treat the forward slash as a switch character, preventing you
from using it in pathnames.  But you can use the forward slash in
pathname parameters to other programs that allow it, such as editors
and compilers.

This also applies to DOS, except that in some old versions of DOS,
you could also change the switch character (to '-', for example).

The workaround is to buy an alternate shell (typically a clone of
the unix sh, csh, or ksh).  This allows you to use the beloved
forward slash (and makes it twice as hard to use the backslash).