Re: Version 2.1.70 ms-dos fs strange.

Rogier Wolff (R.E.Wolff@BitWizard.nl)
Sat, 6 Dec 1997 23:20:11 +0100 (MET)


Bill Hawes wrote:
>
> Richard B. Johnson wrote:
> > # ls /tmp/*.bak
> > ls: /tmp/*.bak: No such file or directory
> > # ls /dos/drive_C/*.bak
> > ls: /dos/drive_C/*.bak: Invalid argument
> > # exit
> > exit
> >
> > Script done on Fri Dec 5 19:34:44 1997
> >
> > Synopsis:
> > `ls` for a nonexistant file under ext2 results in ENOENT.
> > `ls` for a nonexistant file under msdos results in EINVAL.
> > NotGood(tm)
>
> Apparently what happens is that when no files match the pattern *.bak,
> ls tries to stat the name '*.bak', which is an invalid filename under
> DOS.

Very minor nitpick: Some shells pass the "pattern" on litterally when
it doesn't match anything. This allows you to do

find . -name *.bak

without the "\" that I'm used to. This gives good results with no
"bak" files in the current dir, an error message with 2 or more "bak
files" and horribly bad results if there happens to be just one.

Some shell writers like this, others loathe it. Religious wars and
such.

mdir a:*.txt

Regards,

Roger.

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