CompuServe Messages

Scott, Many shells impose restrictions on a command line, and your example only serves to show that the shell you are referring to (one of the Unix shells), does indeed impose restrictions. It does not follow that pre-parsing must be implemented in such a way as to impose this restriction. Having a shared library do the parsing is really no different from having a shell do it, dependent of course on the implementation of the library, and what the call does. ie. what happens if the command line you mentioned is passed to the library routine? Surely there is no difference, since the arguments are still parsed externally. I can envision a number of ways to parse and pass the results to a program that would allow just such a command line to be entered, and to be sent to the user program in a consistent manner. I can also think of ways that would not require the so-called standard method of the parser having to analyze the entire range of wildcards before starting to send the results. I could definitely agree with a shared library parser. It's just that I see no difference at all. -larry