Re: problem redeclaring path variable (ksh incompatibility)

[Michael Wardle <michael@endbracket.net>]

Hi Bart

Thanks for your reply.

> Try running your test script with ARGV0=sh in the environment and note
> the difference in behavior.

It didn't appear to make any difference.  Are you sure this hides $path, 
or are you just suggesting this should be the normal way to invoke zsh 
any time I want it to conform closely to POSIX shell?

In any case, thanks for pointing out that feature.  I discovered this 
difference when asking zsh to read my general POSIX/Korn shell .shrc, so 
it is clear I should enable any sh/ksh compliance features before doing 
so.  I'll definitely investigate it some more.

> } It turns out that neither "typeset path=" nor "typeset path=value" 
> } create a local scalar, which doesn't meet my expectations.  Strangely, 
> } however, "typeset path" does.
> 
> No, it doesn't.  Nowhere in your test script is $path a scalar.

I had assumed it was since subsequent attempts to assign scalar (string) 
values to it succeed, and its global value is restored outside of the 
function.

So this works:
typeset path
path=
path="scalar"

But this doesn't:
typeset path=
path="scalar"

And neither does this:
typeset path=""
path="scalar"

> zsh% func() { emulate ksh; typeset path ; path=scalar ; typeset path }
> zsh% func
> path=(scalar)

Assuming a -m flag to the final typeset, this certainly verifies what 
you said.

Thanks