csh command substitution brain damage

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Article #235

#235

From: trb
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 1984 16:23

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While reloading my ethernet code a few minutes ago, I realized that
the line I needed was in my /etc/rc file, so I typed this to csh:

	% `grep netload /etc/rc`

and csh came back with

	`grep netload /etc/rc`: Ambiguous.

I'm surprised that I'd never tried this idiom before, and also somewhat
surprised that csh would barf on it.

This works on all sh's and barfs on all csh's around here, through
4.2BSD.

I don't have a fix and I'm not inclined to look for one, since many is
the time that csh finds any command which is interesting at all,
ambiguous.  (When I said that I was surprised that csh barfed on it, I
was not telling the whole truth.) And anyway, no real hacker would hack
a shell that wasn't written in ALGOL68.

	Andy Tannenbaum   Masscomp Inc  Westford MA   (617) 692-6200 x274

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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!watmath!clyde!masscomp!trb

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Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site masscomp.UUCP
Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!watmath!clyde!masscomp!trb
From: trb@masscomp.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.bugs
Subject: csh command substitution brain damage
Message-ID: <492@masscomp.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 17-Jul-84 12:23:59 EDT
Article-I.D.: masscomp.492
Posted: Tue Jul 17 12:23:59 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 18-Jul-84 03:36:19 EDT
Organization: MASSCOMP, Westford, MA
Lines: 22