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Date: Sun, 31 Jul 2011 16:17:15 +0200
From: Jilles Tjoelker <jilles@stack.nl>
To: zsh-workers@zsh.org
Subject: Re: syntax error with anonymous functions when an argument begins
 with (
Message-ID: <20110731141715.GA66652@stack.nl>
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> [people want stuff like () { echo yay } (a|b)]

In fact, the closing brace may validly be followed by certain keywords
in older zsh, for example

  if :; then () { echo hi; } else () { echo bye; } fi

prints "hi" in zsh 4.3.12 from FreeBSD ports.

If a regular function definition is used, like

  if :; then f() { echo hi; } else f() { echo bye; } fi; f

then the construct is POSIX compliant and works in all shells I tried
(not including patched versions of zsh).

The same applies if the function definition contains a different kind of
compound command such as if, which is unusual but POSIX compliant and
portable. For example, between two "fi" keywords a space suffices.

(On the other hand, if another command follows, such as ... fi; if ...,
a separator is required.)

So I think that unfortunately passing arguments to anonymous functions
requires an uglier syntax to avoid breaking compatibility. In any case,
placing a keyword after a closing brace that is not an anonymous
function's main command is valid and should be recognized as such.

-- 
Jilles Tjoelker