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From: ZyX <kp-pav@yandex.ru>
To: Ray Andrews <rayandrews@eastlink.ca>,
	Zsh Users <zsh-users@zsh.org>
In-Reply-To: <56575158.1070303@eastlink.ca>
References: <56575158.1070303@eastlink.ca>
Subject: Re: curiosity with here document.
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Date: Thu, 26 Nov 2015 22:01:16 +0300
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26.11.2015, 21:38, "Ray Andrews" <rayandrews@eastlink.ca>:
> I often comment out blocks of code with here-document, and I just found
> this strange thing:
>
> šššš/test1 ()/
> šššš/{/
> šššš/ if [[ "$1" = 'howdy' ]];/
>
> šššš/: <<'COMMENT'/
> šššš/blah blah
> ššššCOMMENT/
>
> šššš/ then/
> šššš/ echo stranger/
> šššš/ fi/
> šššš/}/
>
> šššš/$ test1 no/
> šššš/stranger/
>
> There's no issue if I put the 'then' above the here-document. How should
> I understand that? It is as if the here-document is hijacking the 'if'
> test and returning true. I'd expect the 'if' to go hunting for it's
> 'then' and if it doesn't find it, then throw and error, but not let the
> here-document interlope. But if this is proper then it's a caution as
> to using these things for commenting.

This has nothing to do with here document. You can have any *sequence* of commands as the `if` condition, including `:`. What this sequence returns is used for the if: 

    if true; false
    then
        echo True
    else
        echo False
    fi

will echo False.