* [Caml-list] Wildcard expansion/command line
@ 2002-05-14 7:50 Jens Olsson
2002-05-14 8:24 ` Maxence Guesdon
` (2 more replies)
0 siblings, 3 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Jens Olsson @ 2002-05-14 7:50 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: caml-list
Hello,
This is my second time at the list. Feel good to be back :) Hope all of you are well!
I have a question right away. It might not (probably not) be a Ocaml related question but I'll give it a shot!
I write a program that is invoked from the command line. All well, but when I was starting to make my program deal with wildcards I realized that the ocaml program gets its command line arguments expanded (if wildcards are used). I have included an example at the bottom of my mail to clarify if it is unclear what I mean.
Now, is this done by the OS or the shell? How do I controll this behaviour? Of course I can enclose any arguments within "" and expand any wildcards manually - but I figured, if programs like 'ls' don't have to use quotes, why should I.
So, how does it work?
regards
Jens
Example: If a directory has two files m1.txt and m2.txt, and my ocaml program (here called myprog) is invoked with wildcards it would behave something like this:
Example call Command line arg within my program
./myprog m* -> Sys.argv.(1) = "m1.txt"
./myprog m?.txt -> Sys.argv.(1) = "m1.txt"
./myprog "m*" -> Sys.argv.(1) = "m*"
ie, wildcards are expanded before given to my program.
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread* Re: [Caml-list] Wildcard expansion/command line
2002-05-14 7:50 [Caml-list] Wildcard expansion/command line Jens Olsson
@ 2002-05-14 8:24 ` Maxence Guesdon
2002-05-14 12:52 ` T. Kurt Bond
2002-05-14 13:30 ` Oliver Bandel
2002-05-14 15:52 ` John Max Skaller
2 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: Maxence Guesdon @ 2002-05-14 8:24 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Jens Olsson; +Cc: caml-list
> So, how does it work?
*the shell* expands your unquoted wildcards before passing the args to your program.
> Example: If a directory has two files m1.txt and m2.txt, and my ocaml program (here called myprog) is invoked with wildcards it would behave something like this:
>
> Example call Command line arg within my program
> ./myprog m* -> Sys.argv.(1) = "m1.txt"
> ./myprog m?.txt -> Sys.argv.(1) = "m1.txt"
> ./myprog "m*" -> Sys.argv.(1) = "m*"
You will have :
./myprog m* -> Sys.argv.(1) = "m1.txt" and Sys.argv.(2) = "m2.txt"
./myprog m?.txt -> Sys.argv.(1) = "m1.txt" and Sys.argv.(2) = "m2.txt"
./myprog "m*" -> Sys.argv.(1) = "m*" since the * is inside quotes
Maxence Guesdon
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [Caml-list] Wildcard expansion/command line
2002-05-14 8:24 ` Maxence Guesdon
@ 2002-05-14 12:52 ` T. Kurt Bond
2002-05-14 13:11 ` Dave Mason
0 siblings, 1 reply; 6+ messages in thread
From: T. Kurt Bond @ 2002-05-14 12:52 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: caml-list
Maxence Guesdon writes:
>
> > So, how does it work?
>
> *the shell* expands your unquoted wildcards before passing the args
> to your program.
Not so, strictly speaking. Under MS Windows the O'Caml runtime
apparently expands wildcards itself, if the shell hasn't already. (See
byterun/main.c:main() for the call to expand_command_line() and look
at win32.c for expand_command_line() and its helper functions.)
What did it do under pre-X versions of MacOS?
I think that historically having the shell expand the wildcards for
the program was the *unusual* situation and having the program expand
the wildcards itself was usual. The "program expands wildcards" has
its advantages (as anybody who has used the VMS command "$ rename
*.COM *.SAV" can attest) but having the shell do it makes most
programs simpler, which is probably why Unix ended up with the shell
doing the work.
--
T. Kurt Bond, tkb@tkb.mpl.com
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [Caml-list] Wildcard expansion/command line
2002-05-14 7:50 [Caml-list] Wildcard expansion/command line Jens Olsson
2002-05-14 8:24 ` Maxence Guesdon
@ 2002-05-14 13:30 ` Oliver Bandel
2002-05-14 15:52 ` John Max Skaller
2 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: Oliver Bandel @ 2002-05-14 13:30 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Jens Olsson; +Cc: caml-list
Hello,
On Tue, 14 May 2002, Jens Olsson wrote:
> Hello,
>
> This is my second time at the list. Feel good to be back :) Hope all of you are well!
>
> I have a question right away. It might not (probably not) be a Ocaml related question but I'll give it a shot!
>
> I write a program that is invoked from the command line. All well, but when I was starting to make my program deal with wildcards I realized that the ocaml program gets its command line arguments expanded (if wildcards are used). I have included an exam
ple at the bottom of my mail to clarify if it is unclear what I mean.
[...]
> Example call Command line arg within my program
> ./myprog m* -> Sys.argv.(1) = "m1.txt"
> ./myprog m?.txt -> Sys.argv.(1) = "m1.txt"
> ./myprog "m*" -> Sys.argv.(1) = "m*"
>
> ie, wildcards are expanded before given to my program.
This is typical bwehaviour of unix-shells, and that's what
they are good for. That's, why working with shells is so
easy. :)
If you don't want that behaviour, write your own shell, or
let your program explicitly read the arguments in.
Ciao,
Oliver
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
* Re: [Caml-list] Wildcard expansion/command line
2002-05-14 7:50 [Caml-list] Wildcard expansion/command line Jens Olsson
2002-05-14 8:24 ` Maxence Guesdon
2002-05-14 13:30 ` Oliver Bandel
@ 2002-05-14 15:52 ` John Max Skaller
2 siblings, 0 replies; 6+ messages in thread
From: John Max Skaller @ 2002-05-14 15:52 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Jens Olsson; +Cc: caml-list
>
>
>Is this done by the OS or the shell?
>
The shell. Bash, for example, expands wildcards.
Not all shells do.
--
John Max Skaller, mailto:skaller@ozemail.com.au
snail:10/1 Toxteth Rd, Glebe, NSW 2037, Australia.
voice:61-2-9660-0850
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 6+ messages in thread
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2002-05-14 7:50 [Caml-list] Wildcard expansion/command line Jens Olsson
2002-05-14 8:24 ` Maxence Guesdon
2002-05-14 12:52 ` T. Kurt Bond
2002-05-14 13:11 ` Dave Mason
2002-05-14 13:30 ` Oliver Bandel
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