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From: Zoltan Hidvegi <hzoli@cs.elte.hu>
Message-Id: <199606101817.UAA06663@bolyai.cs.elte.hu>
Subject: Re: Is this really correct ?
To: hniksic@srce.hr (Hrvoje Niksic)
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 20:17:24 +0200 (MET DST)
Cc: zsh-workers@math.gatech.edu, gene@bear.com
In-Reply-To: <kigbuirlfmz.fsf@jagor.srce.hr> from Hrvoje Niksic at "Jun 10, 96 07:42:44 pm"
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> gene@bear.com (gene@bear.com) wrote:
> > 
> > 
> >    Hpux 9.05.
> > 
> > % echo $ZSH_VERSION
> > 2.6-beta20
> > % a="-s"; if [ "$a" = "-s" ] ;  then echo "yeh" ; fi 
> > % 
> > 
> > (if fails)
> 
> If $a is -s, then the test builtin probably tests for whether file '='
> exists and has a size greater than zero :-). This works for me:
> $ echo hi > =
> $ a="-s"; if [ "$a" = "-s" ] ;  then echo "yeh" ; fi
> yeh
> 
> Thus, it may be an sh incompatibility, but not a bug. Unless the shell
> is supposed to count the arguments first, and then use draw the
> conclusions according to the argument values (in which case the middle
> argument would recognized as two-operand =).

POSIX 1003.2 says that if test has three arguments and $2 is a binary
operator then perform the binary test of $1 and $3.  If $1 is `!', negate
the two-argument test of $2 and $3.  Otherwise, produce unspecified
results.

Zsh will be modified according to this (which is more logical than the
present behaviour).

Zoltan