autoconf-patches
[Top][All Lists]
Advanced

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: [PATCH] Use expr where possible


From: Paul Eggert
Subject: Re: [PATCH] Use expr where possible
Date: Sun, 01 May 2005 22:50:01 -0700
User-agent: Gnus/5.1006 (Gnus v5.10.6) Emacs/21.4 (gnu/linux)

Stepan Kasal <address@hidden> writes:

> Paul, do you see any problem here?

I don't see any problem in particular, but have you read the caveats about
expr in the Autoconf manual?  In particular:


The Posix standard is ambiguous as to whether
@samp{expr 'a' : '\(b\)'} outputs @samp{0} or the empty string.
In practice, it outputs the empty string on most platforms, but portable
scripts should not assume this.  For instance, the @acronym{QNX} 4.25 native
@command{expr} returns @samp{0}.

...

Older @command{expr} implementations (e.g., SunOS 4 @command{expr} and
Solaris 8 @command{/usr/ucb/expr}) have a silly length limit that causes
@command{expr} to fail if the matched substring is longer than 120
bytes.  In this case, you might want to fall back on @samp{echo|sed} if
@command{expr} fails.

...

The @acronym{QNX} 4.25 @command{expr}, in addition of preferring @samp{0} to
the empty string, has a funny behavior in its exit status: it's always 1
when parentheses are used!




reply via email to

[Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread]