Re: ls *.mp4 → ls : invalid option -- 'M'

[Peter Stephenson <p.w.stephenson@ntlworld.com>]

> On 13/10/2023 15:46 Ray Andrews <rayandrews@eastlink.ca> wrote:
> On 2023-10-13 01:15, Mikael Magnusson wrote:
> 
> > One (or more) of your files start with the string "--M", you want
> > either ls -- * or ls ./* (or print -rl - *)
>
> I understand the answer and it was courteously given, but just
> technically speaking, is that a zsh issue? I'm seeing it as the
> internal problem of ls. Remembering that the shell will do the
> expansion of the argument, is it in any way up to zsh to parse any
> '--M*' as special? In other words, Denis' question seems to suppose
> that it IS somehow up to zsh to handle that, and I'm wondering if
> that's correct.

It's more that it's up to the zsh user, and if they don't know what to
do, they're going to ask the zsh users mailing list.  It's a very
generic Unix shell issue; you can argue whether shells should work like
this but it's way too late now.

So no, it's not up to zsh to do anything different, but yes, it is
up to zsh users on the mailing list to help out with questions like
this.

pws