[bugs #10771] Primary -exec lacks support for POSIX idiom "{}+" (the plus sign)

[James Youngman]

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It relates to:
                bugs #10771, project findutils

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 OVERVIEW of bugs #10771:
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URL:
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                 Summary: Primary -exec lacks support for POSIX idiom "{}+"
(the plus sign)
                 Project: findutils
            Submitted by: jay
            Submitted on: Fri 10/22/2004 at 19:14
                Category: find
                Severity: 1 - None
              Item Group: None
                  Status: None
                 Privacy: Public
             Assigned to: jay
         Originator Name: 
        Originator Email: address@hidden
             Open/Closed: Open
                 Release: 4.2.1
           Fixed Release: None

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>From http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/utilities/find.html





-exec  utility_name  [argument ...]   {} +

    The end of the primary expression shall be punctuated by a semicolon or
by a plus sign. Only a plus sign that follows an argument containing the two
characters "{}" shall punctuate the end of the primary expression. Other uses
of the plus sign shall not be treated as special.



    If the primary expression is punctuated by a semicolon, the utility
utility_name shall be invoked once for each pathname and the primary shall
evaluate as true if the utility returns a zero value as exit status. A
utility_name or argument containing only the two characters "{}" shall be
replaced by the current pathname.



    If the primary expression is punctuated by a plus sign, the primary shall
always evaluate as true, and the pathnames for which the primary is evaluated
shall be aggregated into sets. The utility utility_name shall be invoked once
for each set of aggregated pathnames. Each invocation shall begin after the
last pathname in the set is aggregated, and shall be completed before the
find utility exits and before the first pathname in the next set (if any) is
aggregated for this primary, but it is otherwise unspecified whether the
invocation occurs before, during, or after the evaluations of other
primaries. If any invocation returns a non-zero value as exit status, the
find utility shall return a non-zero exit status. An argument containing only
the two characters "{}" shall be replaced by the set of aggregated pathnames,
with each pathname passed as a separate argument to the invoked utility in
the same order that it was aggregated. The size of any set of two or more
pathnames shall be limited such that execution of the utility does not cause
the system's {ARG_MAX} limit to be exceeded. If more than one argument
containing only the two characters "{}" is present, the behavior is
unspecified.



    If a utility_name or argument string contains the two characters "{}",
but not just the two characters "{}", it is implementation-defined whether
find replaces those two characters or uses the string without change. The
current directory for the invocation of utility_name shall be the same as the
current directory when the find utility was started. If the utility_name names
any of the special built-in utilities (see Special Built-In Utilities), the
results are undefined.



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Follow-up Comments:


-------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri 10/22/2004 at 19:47       By: James Youngman <jay>
For the moment the documentation has been updated to indicate that this
variant is not supported.





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