Re: Maildir empty?

[Klaus Wacker <wacker@physik.uni-dortmund.de>]

On Mon, Jul 12, 2004 at 03:22:21PM +0200, DervishD wrote:
>     Hi Klaus and Oliver :)
> 
>  * Klaus Wacker <wacker@physik.uni-dortmund.de> dixit:
> > > Does this do what you want:
> > >       if [ -z $i/*/*([1]) ]
> > > You need to use the single brackets so that the $i/*/* is treated as a
> > > filename expansion.
> 
>     Why are single brackets needed here instead of [[ -z ... ]]? Why
> with single brackets the $i/*/* construction is treated as a filename
> expansion? Is it not using double brackets?
> 

I can only give a partial answer. `[' is treated like any other
command, so its arguments are subject to filename expansion. The
closing `]' is basically ignored. Zsh has `[' as a built-in, but there
is also /usr/bin/[. `[[...]]' is a real shell construct with its own
syntax and rules. Don't ask me what exactly the rules are, but
essentially they are geared more towards pattern matching than file
globbing, if I remember correctly.

-- 
Klaus Wacker              wacker@Physik.Uni-Dortmund.DE
Experimentelle Physik V   http://www.physik.uni-dortmund.de/~wacker
Universitaet Dortmund     Tel.: +49 231 755 3587
D-44221 Dortmund          Fax:  +49 231 755 4547