HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: guy@mais.hydro.qc.ca (Guy Harel)
Subject: How to get to $? of /bin/sh
Organization: Hydro-Quebec (DSB)
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 22:05:46 GMT

Hi,

I`m new to PERL, and would like to know how to get the value of
the status var ($?) of a command submitted to the SH:

For example the following gets rid of the error message, as I want:

	$status=`cp >/dev/null 2>&1`;

But if I try to print $? on the second line, I get '0' since the PERL
line executed without problems.

Can I get to $? without resorting to:

	$status=`cp 2>/dev/null; echo $? `;


Thanks

-- 
--
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
From: mmuegel@cssmp.corp.mot.com (Michael S. Muegel)
Subject: Re: "Secure" way to find out hostname
Organization: Corporate Information Office, Schaumburg, Illinois, Motorola, Inc.
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 16:55:13 GMT

Previously, lusol@Lehigh.EDU (Stephen O. Lidie) wrote:
> 
> OK you Perl heavies, let's hear the full 'how to untaint' story....
>

In this case a $ENV {'PATH'} = '' would do the trick.

-Mike

-- 
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Michael S. Muegel                  | Internet E-Mail:    mmuegel@mot.com   |
| UNIX Applications Startup Group    | Moto Dist E-Mail:   X10090            |
| Corporate Information Office       | Voice:              (708) 576-0507    |
| Motorola                           | ... these are my opinions, honest ... |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
From: jns@ace.nas.nasa.gov (John N. Stewart)
Subject: Re: bug with "last"
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 01:04:00 GMT

In article <cameron-930111155241-1-06364@fuligin> cameron@cs.unsw.oz.au writes:
>This loop runs three times.
>
>	for (('a','b','c'))
>		{ print "\$_ is '$_'\n";
>		  { last; }
>		}


last terminates the block of code that it is in, which is limited by
the {} around it. It never addresses the for loop. Running without
those {} around the last gives the desired results.

% perl -version
$RCSfile: perl.c,v $$Revision: 4.0.1.7 $$Date: 92/06/08 14:50:39 $
Patch level: 34

% perl

for (('a','b','c'))
{ print "\$_ is '$_'\n";
  { last; }
}
$_ is 'a'
$_ is 'b'
$_ is 'c'



% perl

for (('a','b','c'))
{ print "\$_ is '$_'\n";
last;
}
$_ is 'a'


Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
From: Tom Christiansen <tchrist@convex.COM>
Subject: Re: Query - arrays of files
Originator: tchrist@pixel.convex.com
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 18:02:07 GMT
Distribution: na
Reply-To: tchrist@convex.COM (Tom Christiansen)
Organization: Convex Computer Corporation, Colorado Springs, CO
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

From the keyboard of drl@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (David R. Linn):
:I am having trouble attempting to use arrays of filehandles.  Is this
:supported in perl?  For more details, read on.

You have to do something like

    $fh = $PTR[$subnet];

Then use $fh as an indirect filehandle.

:This didn't work and further reading has convinced me that it shouldn't
:have.  However, the idea of using an array of file handles is still
:appealing.  The problem comes in generating the file handle names.
:Would any of you more-experienced folks care to suggest a way to do
:this (or to explain why this is a bad idea)?

Here's a sysopen() function that I just wrote today that shows
one way of generating filehandles.

    require 'syscall.ph';
    require 'fcntl.ph';

    sub sysopen { 
	local($path, $flags, $mode) = @_;
	local($fd, $fh);
	if (($fd = syscall(&SYS_open, $path, $flags, $mode)) == -1) {
	    return undef;
	} 
	$fh = 'sysfh' . ++$sysopen'fh;
	open($fh, "+>&$fd") || return undef; # XXX: wrong mode
	return $fh;
    } 

    $tty = &sysopen("/dev/tty", &O_RDWR | &O_NDELAY | &O_EXCL, 0444);
    die "sysopen /dev/tty: $!" unless defined $tty;

    printf "tty handle is %s, fdesc is %d\n", $tty, fileno($tty);

    print $tty "hello, tty!\n";

--tom
-- 
    Tom Christiansen      tchrist@convex.com      convex!tchrist


 "All things are possible, but not all expedient."  (in life, UNIX, and perl)
From: guy@Auspex.COM (Guy Harris)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Re: Perl 4.035 on Solaris 2.1
Date: 10 Jan 93 19:38:17 GMT
Organization: Auspex Systems, Santa Clara

>  Solaris 2.1 -lmalloc library allocates improperly aligned memory blocks!

Does that apply to *other* SVR4.0-derived systems as well?
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl,biz.sco.general
From: sl@wimsey.bc.ca (Stuart Lynne)
Subject: Re: Perl on SCO Open Desktop, SCO Unix 3.2v4
Organization: Wimsey Information Services
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 20:56:23 GMT

In article <C0qFHt.Gyu@wimsey.bc.ca> sl@wimsey.bc.ca (Stuart Lynne) writes:
>In article <1993Jan12.011042.21430@promed.com.au> giles@promed.com.au (Giles Lean) writes:
>>3. Binary for FTP
>>
>>There is a copy of a perl binary for SCO Unix available on ftp.wimsey.com
>>under /pub/wimseypd -- I think this was made available by Stuart Lynne.
>>I have no information on what this was compiled on, or whether it includes
>>TCP/IP or crypt().
>
>GCC, ODT 2.0 Dev Sys, TCP/IP yes, crypt() no.

That was version 4.010. I just grabbed 4.035 and it seems to compile, link
and regress quite nicely.

I'll see if I can make it available in a day or three. I've linked crypt()
in as well this time.

-- 
Stuart Lynne <sl@wimsey.com> ......................... UNIX Facsimile Software
Wimsey Information Technologies ................... moderator biz.sco.binaries
uucp login:nuucp passwd:nuucp .................... ftp.wimsey.com:~ftp/ls-lR.Z
PD Software for SCO UNIX .................... ftp.wimsey.com:~ftp/pub/wimseypd
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
From: mccoy@ils.nwu.edu (Jim Mccoy)
Subject: Question about output formats and numbers
Organization: The Institute for the Learning Sciences
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 07:16:38 GMT

I have a small question regarding formats and numbers that I have not been
able to find in the docs or Camel book and thought I would throw it out
here and see if anyone knows either way...

I am printing out a bunch of stuff that I would like to just write a format
for and use "write", but I need to print one of the fields with a format of
"%1.5e".  Can this be done in a format?  The Camel book mentions mixing
prints with writes on the same output filehandle, but is it possible to mix
the two on the same line?

-jim


-- 
Jim McCoy          |  PGP 2.0 Key md5 hash:
j-mccoy@nwu.edu    |  61323c49024cb089337c78a05aafe8c6
mccoy@ils.nwu.edu  |  finger mccoy@ils.nwu.edu for public key

Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
From: ian@unipalm.co.uk (Ian Phillipps)
Subject: Re: How to run a Perl under DOS?
Organization: Unipalm Ltd., 216 Cambridge Science Park, Cambridge CB4 4WA, UK
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 18:22:09 GMT

c23mts@kocrsv01.delcoelect.com (Mike Scheidler) writes:


>Could someone shed some light on how to execute a script using one of
>the DOS ports of perl?

>I've seen an example somewhere which wraps the invocation of PERL.EXE into
>a .BAT file (using %0 through %9 to pass any parameters), but it doesn't
>seem to exit cleanly for me when using DOS 5.0.

I've recently moved over to this idiom:

    @rem = '
    some dos batch commands
    PERL -S %0.BAT %1 %2 %3 (etc)
    GOTO ENDOFPERL
    ';
    # your perl script here
    __END__
    :ENDOFPERL
    some more DOS if you need it
    rem Drop through end of Batch file

Ian
-- 
Ian Phillipps, Unipalm Ltd, 216 Science Park,		Phone +44 223 420002
Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 4WA, England.		Phax  +44 223 426868
PIPEX is a division of Unipalm Ltd. - phone 0223 424616.
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
From: cgf@ednor.bbc.com (Chris Faylor)
Subject: Re: SCO Open Desktop
Organization: Boston Business Computing, Ltd.
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 23:08:06 GMT

In article <1993Jan10.050626.5603@ednor.bbc.com> cgf@ednor.bbc.com (Chris Faylor) writes:
>Ok.  This is the first time I've ever had one of those "I compiled
>perl under <insert system here> and now it fails a test" problems.
>Perl compiles and links but the following command from the tests
>loops forever:
>
>	perl -e 'goto foo;'
>
>or at least for a very long time.  Any ideas where I should start
>looking?  I tried compiling with no optimization whatever and still
>got the same result.
>
>I'd appreciate any help anybody can provide.

This is me again.  The problem mentioned above is fixed.  Apparently
Configure was somehow confused by its inclusion of the shared library
(libc_s.a) and was not finding all of the symbols it should have.  So,
perl tried to use its own version of vsprintf when it didn't have to.

The next problem is that the new perl fails the lib/big test number 61.
The problem is that in the included library bigint.pl there is a statement:

	local($sx, $sy) = (shift @x, shift @y); # get signs

The x and y arrays contain what they should contain prior to the shift
and $sx contains what it should contain after this operation.  $sy
is '0' when it should be '+' and both arrays are zero length.  Where
do I start looking for this one???

Once again, any help is appreciated.  I know I can't be the first person
to build perl under Open Desktop (aka SCO UNIX).
-- 
Chris Faylor		Boston Business Computing, Ltd.
cgf@ednor.bbc.com	"I am not here."
From: rfs@se28.wg2.waii.com (Robert Starr)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Re: Perl range operator
Keywords: range
Date: 4 Jan 93 15:00:26 GMT
Reply-To: starr@wg2.waii.com
Organization: Western Geophysical

In article <mcook.725814444@fendahl.dev.cdx.mot.com>, mcook@fendahl.dev.cdx.mot.com (Michael Cook) writes:
|>    for i := x..y loop
|> 
|> the compiler would otherwise have to generate code like this:
|> 
|>    if (x <= y)
|>       for (i = x; i <= y; i++)
|>          ...
|>    else
|>       for (i = x; i >= y; i--)
|>          ...
|> 
|> Michael.

Which means using a decrementing range (as you used it) in a for loop
is a no-no (but is fine in a foreach).

I doesn't seem like the range operator behavior ought to be dependent
upon how it is going to be used.  It just seems like (10..1) has an
expansion which is obvious.

Besides, if Ada requires a reverse, the current Perl expansion *must* be
incorrect, eh :-)?

-- 
| RF Starr (starr@wg2.waii.com) | Western Geophysical | Opinions R mine! |
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
From: evensky@odin.scs.uiuc.edu (David A. Evensky)
Subject: recursion, array returning subroutine, dump core on SGI
Summary: perl-4.035 fails where perl-4.019 worked on test provided.
Organization: School of Chemical Sciences Univ. of Illinois, Urbana IL
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 13:40:36 GMT
Keywords: sgi iris coredump


Help! I have a recursive program that used to work on patch level 19
running on an SGI 4D/35G Irix 4.0.5 (currently the 3.10 compilers but
this problem was noticed before Irix 4.0 was released) The program was
compiled using the defaults, for the most part. A test case that also
suffers from the same difficulties is:

  #!/usr/bin/perl -P
  #undef  KLUDGEFIX
  $|=1;
  $x = 10;
  print ":$x! = ",&factorial($x),"\n";
  sub factorial {
     local($num) = @_;
     print "$num ";
     if ($num > 1) {
  #ifdef KLUDGEFIX
	@myarray = &badcall($num);
	($a,$b,$c,$d) = @myarray;
  #else
	($a,$b,$c,$d) = &badcall($num);
  #endif
	$num * &factorial($num - 1);
     } else {
	1;
     }
  }
  sub badcall { (1,2,3,4); }

odin> perl -v

This is perl, version 4.0

$RCSfile: perl.c,v $$Revision: 4.0.1.6 $$Date: 91/11/11 16:38:45 $
Patch level: 19

that produced the following output:
odin> testprog
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 :10! = 3628800

However, under patch level 35:
odin> ./perl -v

This is perl, version 4.0

$RCSfile: perl.c,v $$Revision: 4.0.1.7 $$Date: 92/06/08 14:50:39 $
Patch level: 35

that dumps core with:
odin> testprog
10 Segmentation fault (core dumped)

(define'ing KLUDGEFIX will restore the old behavor.)
Thanks
\dae
From: bill@banana.fedex.com (bill daniels)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: WANTED: USPS Barcode Envelope Printer
Summary: Need a postal barcode printing perl script
Keywords: Postal-Barcode, script
Date: 12 Jan 93 17:00:37 GMT
Organization: Federal Express Corp.

Long ago, someone posted a USPS barcode and addressing script for perl.
I would appreciate it if someone could mail it to me!

Thanks,

bill
-- 
these ravings are in no way sanctioned by federal express corp
bill daniels                    | voice:  (901)797-6328
federal express corp            | fax:    (901)797-6388
box 727-2891, memphis, tn 38194 | email:  bill@banana.dis.fedex.com
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
From: chrise@sr.hp.com (Chris Eich)
Subject: Re: How to get to $? of /bin/sh
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 23:35:17 GMT
Organization: HP Sonoma County (SRSD/MWTD/MID)
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8.1]

It works for me (note that the status is shifted 8 bits as in wait(2)):

$ perl -e '`cp >/dev/null 2>&1`;print $?, "\n"'
256

Chris
From: exodus@vsync.Eng.Sun.COM (Greg Onufer)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Re: Perl 4.035 on Solaris 2.1
Date: 9 Jan 1993 00:59:29 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems Inc., Mountain View, CA
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: vsync

In <1993Jan8.203105.16916@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov> drich@sandman.lerc.nasa.gov (Daniel Rich) writes:
>Has anyone successfully compiled perl 4.035 on Solaris 2.1?  I managed
>to get an executable with only a couple hours of hacking, but the
>executable core dumps during the first test.  Can anyone offer any
>suggestions?  I would like to get inn 1.2 running, but need perl to
>validate my configuration....

I've done it with gcc and Sun's unbundled C compiler.  Just answer all
of the Configure questions and at the end when it asks you if you want
to edit config.sh, do so and make sure that you 1) don't let it use
vfork and 2) make sure it uses the system malloc and not its own.  It
then passes all of its tests except there are two cpp warnings about
unterminated strings when one of the tests are run through the C
preprocessor and the warnings seem harmless.  If you want a glitchless
run of the tests, edit the script those warnings are generated about and
remove the apostrophes (they are in contractions like "isn't") from the
two '#' comments.

Cheers!greg
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
From: mark@coombs.anu.edu.au (Mark)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Re: Copying files; system and exec for MS-DOS perl?
Date: 5 Jan 93 04:11:42 GMT
Organization: Australian National University
NNTP-Posting-Host: 150.203.76.2
Organisation: Wassat?!

aeichsta@athena.mit.edu (Andrew J. Eichstaedt) writes:

>I'm using Len Reed's version of Perl for MS-DOS.  I wanted my perl script
>simply to copy a file to another, new file.

>* I couldn't find a perl copy function to copy files, the same way rename()
>renames files, or unlink() deletes files.  Am I missing something obvious?
>(I've just started using perl.)

Hmm, one thing to do would be to try another perl version from
ftp.ee.umanitoba.ca in msdos/perl or similar. Or try this:

open(INPUT, "copy $file $file2|");
close(INPUT);

Seems rather unecessary tho as Im sure I could "shell" subcommands using
system. Get the perl386 version from the above ftp site. (If you have a
386 that is :) The other dosperl binary on that site could help too..

If you want the full story on the IBM versions check the file 
/pub/perl/misc/perl.code.sources on coombs.anu.edu.au. I think I sorta wrote
it up there. There are references to other binaries for various computers
there too.

Bleah, why am I only posting about lame dos in this group.. geez

Mark
mark@coombs.anu.edu.au
From: Alan Stebbens <aks%anywhere@hub.ucsb.edu>
Subject: getopts.pl bug fix
Reply-To: aks%anywhere@hub.ucsb.edu
Organization: The Internet
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 06:21:00 GMT

In debugging a new script, I've found a couple of bugs in "getopts.pl"
(typically installed as /usr/local/lib/perl/getopts.pl).

First, if an option requires an argument and @ARGV is empty, its
variable will get set to "shift @ARGV", which is "undef"; not a good
thing to *set* a variable with.

Second, if you give two consecutive options, both of which want
arguments, the second option is used as the value for the first.  Eg:
'-x -y' results in $opt_x eq '-y', not the expected result of setting
both $opt_x and $opt_y.

The diffs are followed by the code, for those without the original.  If
this is old news to some of you, thanks for your forbearance.

-- Alan Stebbens, UCSB, Santa Barbara <aks@hub.ucsb.edu>
"If all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail."

============================= cut here ===================================
diff -c -d getopts.pl.~1~ getopts.pl
*** getopts.pl.~1~	Sun Jan 26 00:23:12 1992
--- getopts.pl	Thu Jan  7 21:56:31 1993
***************
*** 3,8 ****
--- 3,14 ----
  ;# Usage:
  ;#      do Getopts('a:bc');  # -a takes arg. -b & -c not. Sets opt_* as a
  ;#                           #  side effect.
+ ;# Last Edited:
+ ;# 
+ ;# Thu Jan  7 21:56:31 1993 by Alan Stebbens (aks at anywhere.ucsb.edu)
+ ;# 	 Fixed assignment of $opt_N when @ARGV is empty.  Also, fixed
+ ;# 	 case of '-x -y' and '-x' wants an arg.
+ ;#
  
  sub Getopts {
      local($argumentative) = @_;
***************
*** 18,24 ****
  	    if($args[$pos+1] eq ':') {
  		shift(@ARGV);
  		if($rest eq '') {
! 		    $rest = shift(@ARGV);
  		}
  		eval "\$opt_$first = \$rest;";
  	    }
--- 24,30 ----
  	    if($args[$pos+1] eq ':') {
  		shift(@ARGV);
  		if($rest eq '') {
! 		    $rest = (@ARGV && $ARGV[0] !~ /^-/ && shift(@ARGV)) || 1;
  		}
  		eval "\$opt_$first = \$rest;";
  	    }
============================= cut here ===================================
From: phil@compnews.co.uk (Phil Male)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Bug in timelocal
Summary: timelocal $tzmin incorrect
Date: 6 Jan 93 19:25:45 GMT
Reply-To: phil@compnews.co.uk
Organization: Computer Newspaper Services, Howden, UK.
NNTP-Posting-Host: sage.compnews.co.uk
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

I'm either doing something very stupid here or there is a bug in the timelocal
package.

From Perl 4.035 lib/timelocal.pl:

CONFIG: {
    package timelocal;

    local($[) = 0;
    @epoch = localtime(0);
    $tzmin = $epoch[2] * 60 + $epoch[1];       # minutes east of GMT
    if ($tzmin > 0) {
       $tzmin = 24 * 60 - $tzmin;              # minutes west of GMT
       $tzmin -= 24 * 60 if $epoch[5] == 70;   # account for the date line
    }

    $SEC = 1;
    $MIN = 60 * $SEC;
    $HR = 60 * $MIN;
    $DAYS = 24 * $HR;
}

This code makes the assumption that the clock offset at localtime(0) is
equal to the clock offset when $isdst is 0.

from /usr/lib/zoneinfo/europe:

#       1967    March 19        October 29
#       1968    February 18     October 27
# "British Standard Time, also one hour ahead of G. M. T., was kept between
# 1968 Oct. 27-1971 Oct. 31."
#       1972    March 19        October 29

..which just happens to be around the epoch.

Now, the point is that at the epoch, according to our Suns and several other
boxes, time in GB-Eire was one hour ahead of GMT, but DST was not in effect.
(This could be a bug in the europe definition file of course...)

The problem gets worse because...

    $time -= $HR if $test[2] != $_[2];

in timelocal() takes another hour off.

Am I being very stupid, I can't believe that no-one has not spotted this
before...

--

phil 
   ___/   /
   /_/)  /             Phil Male, Director, Information Systems
  / /_ '/  Computer Newspaper Services, The Bishops Manor, Howden, DN14 7BL
 / / ///    +44 43043 Tel: 1100 Fax: 1108/2022  email: phil@compnews.co.uk
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
From: TDTRUE@pucc.Princeton.EDU
Subject: Perl mode for emacs?
Originator: news@nimaster
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 21:39:22 GMT

Anyone know of a perl mode for emacs?  C mode doesn't do the trick ...
 
Thanks for any help.
 
 
Tom True
Princeton University
CIT - Advanced Applications
TDTRUE@PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU
(609) 258-6064
From: pomeranz@irving.nas.nasa.gov (Hal R. Pomeranz)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: unshift() behavior
Date: 7 Jan 93 01:27:28 GMT
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California


Is it just me or does anybody else think that

	unshift(@list, 1..10);

should do the same thing as

	@list = reverse 1..10;

I guess I'm thinking that unshift should jam its arguments onto the
front of the list one at a time rather than en masse as it does
currently.  Of course, it's probably faster to do it as a lump, but
it somehow seems non-intuitive to me...

-- 
===============================================================================
Hal Pomeranz     Senior Member of Technical Staff     NASA Ames Research Center
	     pomeranz@nas.nasa.gov     pomeranz@cs.swarthmore.edu
"I sit and stare with hardened eyes through a time when life's so hard."  --L&O
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
From: lwall@netlabs.com (Larry Wall)
Subject: Re: Problem with study under Perl 4.035?
Organization: NetLabs, Inc.
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 18:17:41 GMT

In article <1180035@hpcc01.corp.hp.com> okamoto@hpcc01.corp.hp.com (Jeff Okamoto) writes:
: Removing the call to study, or the /o trailer will solve the problem for
: both 019 and 035.  Am I just doing something stupid?  Granted, the study
: is pretty useless in this case, but the script should still work.

It's a bug that's fixed in what there is of Perl 5.  Now if I could just
find time to finish it....   We're being pretty busy here at the moment.

Larry
From: manaster@yu1.yu.edu (Chaim Manaster)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Len Reed
Summary: Need the Email address for Len Reed.
Date: 7 Jan 93 22:26:44 GMT
Organization: Yeshiva University

Anybody know how to contact Len Reed, the author of one of the
Perl ports to DOS? I have the old Email address at .gatec
(something like holos@gatec.something This is from Memeory, its not
in front of me right now) that was in the doc's of the Perl DOS
port. Unfortunately, he does not respond at that address, and the
postmaster doesn't know how to reach him.

Please forward his current Email address, (or whatever current info
you may have).

Thank you.

Henry Manaster

-- 
***************************************************************************
	Henry Manaster          *     EMail: manaster@yu1.yu.edu
	Brooklyn, NY            *
                                *
	Disclaimer: The above is not necessarily MY opinion nor that 
				of anyone else :-)  ????!
****************************************************************************
 
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
From: gmc@helix.nih.gov (Gordon M. Charrick)
Subject: Algorithm for matching names???
Organization: National Institutes of Health, Bethesda
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 16:00:14 GMT

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some code that can match names that may not be exactly the
same (i.e. B Smith and Bob Smith, John Doe and John Q Doe, Steve and
Stephen, Bill and William, etc). Does anyone have anything to do this 
already? It sounds like it could be a bit of a bitch to write! Thanks in
advance.
--
Gordon Charrick [n4ytx]                301-496-4823    ____
gmc@helix.nih.gov                                      \  /
Nat'l Inst. of Health, Bethesda, MD                     \/
From: goldfish@cebu.sbi.com (P. Goldsmith)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.perl
Subject: Re: Copying files; system and exec for MS-DOS perl?
Date: 7 Jan 93 13:52:47 GMT
Organization: Salomon Brothers, Inc

In article <5ygswB5w165w@cybrspc.UUCP> roy%cybrspc@cs.umn.edu (Roy M. Silvernail) writes:
>aeichsta@athena.mit.edu (Andrew J. Eichstaedt) writes:
>>...
>> perl -e "system('dir')" seems to do nothing in the DOS version, whereas 
>...
>It appears (and I'll have to do some experimenting to verify this) that
>perl is handling the system() call without a new instantiation of the
>command processor.  The 'dir' command is a builtin for command.com and
>...

but "xcopy" is an external command ...

	system ("xcopy $old $new") || die " ... $!";

(but then, doesn't Perl fire up a shell for any "system" which has a single
argument?)
-- 
	Paul Goldsmith	<goldfish@sbi.com>	      w	(212) 783-7733
	(shredding elf)	<goldfish@ozrout.uucp>	      h	(212) 727-9345
	( Shirley MacLaine told me there would be LIFETIMES like this)
		so many managers ... so little time ...