Re: today's rc programming challenge

[Robert Earl <chupchup@piggy.ucsb.edu>]

fn chop {
	l=() {
	for (f in ``$nl{whatis $1}) {
		~ $#l 0 || echo -n $l
		~ $f '''' && {echo ''''; return}
		~ $#l 0 || echo
		l=$f
	}
	}
}

you call it with a variable name rather than the value; and it prints
a variable assignment a la `whatis' on stdout, so to use it:

; foo='testing
	chop.
	'
; eval ``(){chop foo}

and foo is now chopped.  i know the calling syntax is obscure, but
using whatis was convenient - it knows how to quote, and in the
presence of tabs and spaces, echo could get things wrong.

OBChallenge: make this work with more than one argument.  i had to use
"return" to cut out of the loop (which is why it HAS to be in a
function).