HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: cus1ap@surrey.ac.uk (A.Pavanantham)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Remote uid
Date: 14 Aug 92 05:42:32 GMT



Hello

I would like to find out the login name or the uid of the
remote user. If a user uses rlogin from another machine or telnet
how do I find out the login name or the uid of the process who
initiated from the remote machine.
--
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Pava Pavanantham         Computing unit
University of Surrey     Guildford  U.K
GU2 5XH
E-mail pava@surrey.ac.uk
Tel: +44-483-300800  ext 3196 
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: dawson@intelhf.hf.intel.com (Bryan Dawson)
Subject: Re: vi (cut and paste)
Keywords: vi
Organization: Development Tools Operation, Intel Corp., Hillsboro  OR
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 17:49:52 GMT

sgr@alden.UUCP (Stan Ryckman) writes:

>In article <1992Aug17.200149.7817@s912%bnf.com> bibb@s912%bnf.com (Ken Bibb) writes:
>>In <3815@keele.keele.ac.uk> phd85@seq1.keele.ac.uk (D.H. Holden) writes:
>>In the following texT:
>>aaabbbbbb
>>bbbbbbbbb
>>bbbbccccc
>>
>>I'll assume you want to cut the b's out and save them into buffer a.
>>1) position the cursor at the beginning of the range to be cut (1Gfb will work
>>   in this example).
>>2) ma (mark the location with marker a)
>>3) move to the end of the range (Gfc will work in this example)
>>4) "ad`a will cut the range and put it into buffer a

>NOT!

WAY!
Note the subtle distinction between the ' single quote and the ` back quote
which is sometimes difficult to see...  VI uses the ` back quote to mean
"treat the marks as character positions rather than line positions".

>This grabs all three full lines.  (I tried it!  Did you?)

I just did and he probably did also... certainly works fine for me.

>aaaccccc

>and the buffer to contain:
>bbbbbb
>bbbbbbbbb
>bbbb

>"Mark" (the "m" command) only marks the line, NOT the cursor
>position within the line.

As noted above, mark DOES mark the "cursor" (character) position but 
the 'standard' access to marks using the ' single quote accesses entire
lines.  Use the ` back quote to access character positions...

>for sure whether there _is_ a way to do this, and if I'm wrong I'd
>like to know.  But please, _TRY_ it before posting!

>Stan.
>--
>This .signature has expired.  Call 1-900-YOU-FOOL to find out why.
>    Stan Ryckman   sgr@alden.UUCP

_________Thanks and Regards from: _____________________________

>>  Bryan_Dawson_at_jfccm1@ccm.hf.intel.com      (me @ work)
>>  (503) 696-4231   >> dawson@pdaxs.techbook.com  (me @ play)
At the bank he was shocked to see such a den of equity.
_______________________________________________________________

Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: cs921022@ariel.yorku.ca (MING HE)
Subject: Dialup: Keep the processes during modem interrupt
Summary: I don't like to resetup the whole session again and again...
Keywords: process alive
Organization: York University, Toronto, Canada
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 04:46:36 GMT


Hi,

When I dial up, I always meet some 'no carrier' in the modem while I
am doing some jobs.  How can I keep the process still there then I
just reconnect to them instead of setting up the whole session again?

ming
From: jyacc!dtroxell%aspen@uunet.uu.net (Dan Troxell - SysAdm (NE))
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: dump/rdump in single-user
Date: 20 Aug 92 03:20:08 GMT

Mark,

  >I'm trying to set up a dump schedule for various Suns. I want to dump to a
  >cartridge drive on an IBM RS/6000. So I read the FM and it says that I need
  >to use rdump, and that I should use it from single-user mode. 
  >
  >Mark Flynn
  >Liquid Crystal Institute
  >Kent State University
  >flynn@nematic.kent.edu


Forget the single-user stuff -- the keywords here for SUN's dump/rdump
are ( quote from SUN ) 

	'... on a quiescent system.'

This means you will lose updates to files made after the 'dump' takes it's
inode count. Bringing the system up single-user ensures that no one can 
get in the way with their pesky file updates.

One way around this is to simply distribute the file /etc/nologin to
all systems. A check for this file's existence takes place during every
login attempt -- if it exists, it displays its text ( like motd ) and boots
the user out. The shutdown command also does this with a certain flag 
( i ferget ) but then you get those stupid broadcast messages ( and who's
gonna see them at 3am, anyway? ). I have a simple script that sends the 
/etc/nologin's out and then deletes them again upon completion. Be sure to 
run a cron job later on to check for /etc/nologin's -- if there's any 
hangin' around you'll get some angry users. :^)

dan

================================================================= 
dan troxell, SysAdm	Jyacc,Inc.	55 William Street Ste 300 
dtroxell@jyacc.com			Wellesley, MA 02181 
uunet!jyacc!dtroxell			617.431.7431 x113 
=================================================================
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: dmartin@pico.engr.mun.ca (Dan Martin)
Subject: How to logout???
Keywords: logout
Organization: Memorial University of Newfoundland
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 19:05:08 GMT

Hi,
I'm new to unix, dunno how to logout!
Thanks.
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: KSZ@VM.NRC.CA
Subject: Control char and term mode under telnet
Organization: National Research Council
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 15:07:22 EDT

When I telnet UNIX host on VM/CMS machine, I always have two problems:
(1) I don't know what the control characters are. The terminal I use is
    vt100.
(2) When I login, I have to use the remote host in line mode which I am
    not familiar with. I don't know if one can change it to full screen mode.
Thanks in advance.
 
 
 
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 KAIJUN S. ZHAN                          || (613) 990 - 0734 (voice)
 Internet:ksz@vm.nrc.ca                  ||
 Internet:kzhan@sgi1.mathstat.uoguelph.ca|| "Three generates everything".
 Internet:gilwf16@vm.uoguelph.ca         ||
 Bitnet:ksz@nrcvm01                      ||      -- Lao Zhi
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: bibb@s912%bnf.com (Ken Bibb)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: vi (cut and paste)
Keywords: vi
Date: 17 Aug 92 20:01:49 GMT
Organization: Organization of Unknown Origin

In <3815@keele.keele.ac.uk> phd85@seq1.keele.ac.uk (D.H. Holden) writes:


> hi, 
>    Does anyone know how you cut a range of text to one
>   
>    of the named buffers, where the range does not cover
> 
>   an integer number of lines, i.e., 

>  How do i cut from here > text  text text ..........

>  ............... n number of lines .....

> ...... to here <  into the named buffer "a for example?

>    Cheers,

>              Dave.

In the following texT:

aaabbbbbb
bbbbbbbbb
bbbbccccc

I'll assume you want to cut the b's out and save them into buffer a.

1) position the cursor at the beginning of the range to be cut (1Gfb will work
   in this example).
2) ma (mark the location with marker a)
3) move to the end of the range (Gfc will work in this example)
4) "ad`a will cut the range and put it into buffer a

--
ken@bnf.com		jester@crash.cts.com
-- 
bnf!s912!ken@crash.cts.com	"The Fire and the Rose are one"--T.S.Eliot
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,ba.seminars,rec.arts.books,misc.books.technical
From: eugene@orville.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)
Subject: 8/25/92 CLB EVENT NOTICE - ZEN AND THE ART OF DEVICE DRIVER WRITING -
Followup-To: comp.unix.admin
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 92 20:57:35 GMT

Another bookshop notice.  This notice forwarded by request.
Followups to c.u.admin
=====

PLEASE POST IN YOUR SYSTEM.

Thanks!  :)


**ANNOUNCING AN EVENT AT COMPUTER LITERACY BOOKSHOPS**

------------------------------------------------------
      ZEN AND THE ART OF DEVICE DRIVER WRITING
------------------------------------------------------

GEORGE PAJARI, the President and founder of Driver
Design Labs, (a company that specializes in the
development of UNIX device drivers) and the author of
the hot selling book, "Writing UNIX Device Drivers",
will be our special guest speaker of the evening.



Date:  Tuesday, August 25, 1992
Time:  6:30 pm - 8:00 pm 



Location: Computer Literacy Bookshops
          2590 North First Street (At Trimble)
          San Jose
          (408) 435-1118

Events at our stores are always FREE!!!!!!!!



If you would like to receive e-mail announcements
for upcoming store events, simply write to
"events-request@clbooks.com".

****************************************************

Computer Literacy Bookshops, Inc.
Marketing Department
Tracy Russ                 Cherrie C. Chiu
tracyr@clbooks.com         cherrie@clbooks.com
(408) 435-5015 x109        (408) 435-5015 x116

****************************************************
From: davidg@bohra.cpg.oz.au (David McGorrery)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Terminfo problem
Summary: Terminfo problem
Keywords: terminfo mips
Date: 13 Aug 92 10:24:11 GMT
Organization: Computer Power Software


I posted this recently to comp.sys.mips, but don't have any takers...so
if anyone has any ideas...(maybe the problem is not RISC/os specific?)

We have just upgraded from RISC/os 4.52 to RISC/os 5.0 and I'm having a 
problem with the terminfo entries.

When I do 'infocmp vt100' I get the following (parts ommited):
#	Reconstructed via infocmp from file: /usr/share/lib/terminfo/v/vt100
vt100|vt100-am|dec vt100 (w/advanced video),
	am, mir, msgr, xenl, xon,
	bitwin#255, bitype#255, btns#255, bufsz#255,
	colors#255, cols#80, cps#255, it#8, lh#255, lines#24,
	lm#255, lw#255, ma#255, maddr#255, mcs#255,
	mjump#255, mls#255, ncv#255, nlab#255, npins#255,
	orc#255, orhi#255, orl#255, orvi#255, pairs#255,
	pb#255, spinh#255, spinv#255, vt#3, widcs#255,
	wnum#255, wsl#255, xmc#255,

The 'xmc#255' entry seems incorrect. It should be 0 (not 255), or is there
some magic significance to 255? (in fact all of the 255's look suspicious)

When I use use tgetnum() and compile with '-systype svr4' it also returns 255.

Any help appreciated.
-- 
David McGorrery                     E-mail: davidg@bohra.cpg.oz.au
Computer Power Group           
19 Cato St., East Hawthorn,   
Melbourne, Australia
From: vanepp@fraser.sfu.ca (Peter Van Epp)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Swap space usage..??
Date: 21 Aug 92 03:08:52 GMT
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada

gja@mullian.ee.mu.oz.au (Grenville Armitage) writes:

>In article <27434@sophia.inria.fr> rriv@oural.inria.fr (Robert Riviere) writes:
>	[...]
>>myhost%df
>>Filesystem            kbytes    used   avail capacity  Mounted on
>>...
>>swap                   36828     952   35876     3%    /tmp
>>...
>>What is my swap size ? 60 Mo, 40Mo or 36 Mo ...

>I don't know how you got a device listed here as "swap", but if it's
>mounted on /tmp then it ain't swap space.

>Look for an entry listed as "swap" in /etc/fstab for another partition
>being used as swap space. (mentioned by a previous poster).

>gja

If this is a Sun and it is using something called tmpfs, then (as it was 
explained to me just today) yes this is both /tmp and swap. Whatever
amount of space is not in use for swap is the amount of /tmp you have, and
the amount varies as swap is used up. This came up because when we ran this
way a product was having trouble getting a lockf() type lock in /tmp, moving
/tmp to being a sym link into /usr/tmp fixed the problem.

Peter Van Epp / Operations and Technical Support 
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C. Canada
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: buboo@alf.uib.no (Ove Ruben R Olsen)
Subject: Where to find VI INFO [was: vi (cut and paste)]
Followup-To: poster
Keywords: vi
Reply-To: Ruben@UiB.No
Organization: University of Bergen, Norway
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 92 15:58:08 GMT

Aubrey Soper writes:

>       I'd recommend that you get a book on vi, such
>as UNIX Text Processing by Hayden Books.  With only the
>UNIX docs, you'll probably wind up hating vi...
>
>aubrey soper

There is a *LARGE* amout of *PUBLIC* (read FREE) documentation on
VI/EX.
So no need to hurry away trowing out a great deal of money when the
same information is freely availible.

VI is nearly like a Ferrari  to drive - A pain learing, but once you 
have learned it, it's powerfull and fast.

Fetch a INDEX file from the following places:

Europe:
   Main site:     alf.uib.no (129.177.30.3)
   Filearea:      pub/lpf/misc
   Macroarea:     pub/lpf/misc/macros
   Peak hours:    07.00 am GMT to 03.00 pm GMT 

Japan:
   Mirror site:   utsun.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp (133.11.11.11) 
   Filearea:      misc/vi-archive
   Macroarea:     misc/vi-archive/macros
   Peak hours:    01.00 am GMT to 09.00 am GMT

USA, Canada and Mexico: 
   Mirror site:   cs.uwp.edu (131.210.1.4)
   Filearea:      /pub/vi
   Macroarea:     /pub/vi/macros
   Peak hours:    None.            

Australia, NZ and the rest Down Under:
   Main site:     monu6.cc.monash.edu.au (130.194.1.106)
   Filearea:      /pub/Vi
   Macroarea:     /pub/Vi/macros
   Peak hours:    Not relevent


For more information about the files at the archives and the archives 
itself, please read one of the FAQ for Comp.Editors.
If you are in a hurry you may fetch the INDEX file.

If you need more information, you are welcome to mail Ruben@uib.no.

\Ruben.
(Just say NO to the HEAVY and slow Rolce Royce :-)

-- 
        Ove Ruben R Olsen a Gnarfer and VI user. EMAIL: ruben@uib.no. 
     Maintaining the EX/VI-archive and a couple of the Comp.Editors FAQs.
    People that are ignorant tend to live a frustrated life, at least when 
     it comes to editing - But I do belive this is a general rule in life
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: reddy@spso.gsfc.nasa.gov (Jagan Reddy)
Subject: graph program piped to plot does not produce labels ? Help apprec.
Summary: Any one knows to get labels for graph <..| plot -Tcrt ?
Keywords: graph sun unix plot
Organization: Goddard Space Flight Center
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 16:45:19 GMT

Hi,

	I have been trying to get good plots from graph command.
My problem is given input like 
1.000   2.003
1.03    2.004
1.004	3.94
2.98	4.877

	some program (either already available on Unix platform or 
a public domain ) should take that input and plot some graph
like

         |
	 |
	 |  
	 |
	 _____________


with points connected and labels at each bucket etc.

Any one has some suggestions. Help is highly appreciated.

Jagan

Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: jns@ace.nas.nasa.gov (John N. Stewart)
Subject: Re: How do I tell if a file is open for writing?
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 23:46:43 GMT

In article <1992Aug20.132711.4783@news.eng.convex.com> tchrist@convex.COM (Tom Christiansen) writes:
>From the keyboard of benjy@athena.mit.edu (Benjamin B Thomas):
>:I was wondering if there is an absolute method of determining if a
>:file is open for writing. I have been doing:
>:
>:ls -s foo > tmp1
>:sleep 5
>:ls -s foo > tmp2
>:cmp tmp1 tmp2

[-stuff deleted-]

>Portable?  No.  But for those bound and determined, you can 
>dive into the kernel can consult the open file table for 
>entries matching that dev/ino with flags indicating write access.
>I believe Dan Bernstein's pff program can do this for you.



I would use the time of last access on a stat command, if you are
trying to do this in CSH you've got some problems. DO IT IN PERL!

My $0.02 worth -- and since it is as difficult as Tom C. says, and he
is a Perly guy, I hope he agrees :)

--
John Stewart (Ace)
CSS/DSS
NASA Ames Research Center
(415) 604-4345
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: hassan@cs.ubc.ca (Moustafa Hassan)
Subject: sigs in nnpost
Followup-To: hassan@cs.ubc.ca 
Reply-To: hassan@cs.ubc.ca (Moustafa Hassan)
Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 92 18:50:47 GMT

Does anyone know how to make nnpost accept .signature files with more than
4 lines?  Also, is there a way of making nnpost ignore my .signature.

(Note: I've already thought of copying .signature into .sig, inserting
that file every time I post, and erasing (or renaming) .signature, but
that's too much work.) 


-- 
********************************************************************
* Moustafa Hassan          |                                       *
* hassan@cs.ubc.ca         |  Political correctness is a euphemism *  
* TEL/FAX: (604) 535-2826  |  for intellectual stagnation.         *
********************************************************************
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: mike@highlite.uucp (Mike Wiik)
Subject: Is there a group...
Keywords: telephony SS7 ISDN
Organization: Gotham Communications Research
Distribution: comp
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 00:35:57 GMT

Pardon my ignorance.

Is there a group for discussion of telephone switching software,
ISDN, Signalling System 7 etc???

	-Mike

-- 
   | o==== . : ... :  :  .     |Mail Me Neat Stuff->POB 3703 Arlington VA 22203
 --@-- . o o o ... O -O- o o : |No disclaimers needed: I actually pay for this.
   |           ... :  :        |-----------------------------------------------
mEssAGE fRoM sPAcE ARt stUdiOs |Man:TheMissingLinkBetweenApes&HigherIntelligence
From: avery@Ecosys.DRDR.Virginia.EDU (Daniel Avery)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Wanted: simple mail sorter & header stripper
Date: 22 Aug 92 02:25:06 GMT
Organization: Division of Recoverable and Disposable Resources, U.Va.

Sorry to bother everyone on the net with a simple question, but
I have an urgent need for a simple utility to sort mail files
by date and strip the headers...I'd knock one off myself but I
need it very quickly...Does anyone know of any ready-made utilities
to sort and strip mail files?  Reply via e-mail - no need to waste
net space more than absolutely necessary...

Thanks,
Dan Avery
Division of Recoverable and Disposable Resources
University of Virginia
internet: avery@ecosys.drdr.virginia.edu
bitnet:   dba3k@virginia
From: tony@hacgate.SCG.HAC.COM (Tony Reeves)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: uniplex?
Date: 13 Aug 92 16:04:11 GMT
Reply-To: tony@hacgate.UUCP (Tony Reeves)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Hughes Aircraft Co., El Segundo, CA

Is anyone out there using Uniplex software? If so, we need to know if there
are any release notes for version 7.01a. Uniplex has been very poor at
support, in fact, support %^&&%# if you get my driff. 

Any help would be great!

-- 
Why did the Roman Empire Collapse? What is latin for Office Automation?
---- The opitions expressed here are mine and have nothing to do with Hughes
Aircraft Co. -- So there! tony@hacgate.hac.com
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: srangan@rodan.acs.syr.edu (R A N G A N )
Subject: SETENV / ENVIRONMENT 
Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 13:34:11 EDT

  hi,
       I am nor familiar with some of the setenv varaibles 

       1. DISPLAY
       2. LD_LIBRARY_PATH
       3. LOGNAME
       4. NOSUNVIEW
       5. XINITRC 

       ALso from where can I get a list of all the setenv varaibles.

       And whether the setenv is executed when one logs in ?

       and can a user add paths for some libraries etc in setenv ?

       THANKS A BILLION

       Send me mail at srangan@mailbox.syr.edu

Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: jns@ace.nas.nasa.gov (John N. Stewart)
Subject: Re: How do I tell if a file is open for writing?
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 92 23:45:44 GMT

In article <1992Aug20.132711.4783@news.eng.convex.com> tchrist@convex.COM (Tom Christiansen) writes:
>From the keyboard of benjy@athena.mit.edu (Benjamin B Thomas):
>:I was wondering if there is an absolute method of determining if a
>:file is open for writing. I have been doing:
>:
>:ls -s foo > tmp1
>:sleep 5
>:ls -s foo > tmp2
>:cmp tmp1 tmp2

[-stuff deleted-]

>Portable?  No.  But for those bound and determined, you can 
>dive into the kernel can consult the open file table for 
>entries matching that dev/ino with flags indicating write access.
>I believe Dan Bernstein's pff program can do this for you.



I would use the time of last access on a stat command, if you are
trying to do this in CSH you've got some problems. DO IT IN PERL!

My $0.02 worth -- and since it is as difficult as Tom C. says, and he
is a Perly go, I hope he agrees :)

--
John Stewart (Ace)
CSS/DSS
NASA Ames Research Center
(415) 604-4345
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
From: buck@pool.info.sunyit.edu (Jesse Buckley)
Subject: Re: Changing file names
Organization: State University of New York -- Institute of Technology
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 19:18:48 GMT

In article <13549@chalmers.se> biorn@phc.chalmers.se (Bjorn Sandell) writes:
>In article <ac#n06l.bosak@netcom.com>, bosak@netcom.com (Jon Bosak) writes:
>|> 
>|> Here's a problem that must be very common but doesn't seem to get
>|> discussed in books for Unix novices.
>|> 
>|> Suppose I have a directory containing files named, for example,
>|> 
>|>       xyz920815a
>|>       xyz920815b
>|>       xyz920816
>|> 
>|> ...and so on.  I want to change the names of these files to
>|> 
>|>       920815a
>|>       920815b
>|>       920816
>|> 
>|> Who can provide the most elegant solution using just the basic Unix 
>|> tools (cp, mv, sed, awk, sh, csh)?
>
>
>Why not use ksh? 
>
> for file in xyz* ; do
>   mv $file ${file#xyz}
> done

Or you could use your fingers...

mv xyz920815a 920815a
mv xyz920815b 920815b
mv xyz920816 920816

...

I'm kidding.  Use the perl rename script.  If you don't have perl either
get it or whine irrationally until you get it.  I put off getting perl
for the longest time, and now use it for everything.  In fact it is the
one thing that compiled correctly on our HPUX system, without dbm, but
hey HP want's you to buy dbm.  Perl, IMHO, is/should be considered a
basic tool like sed, awk, etc.  And at least, it is the same across
platforms, unlike some of the shells.

-- 
=) Buck (buck@sunyit.edu)
"Clothes make the man.  Naked people have little or no influence on
society." -- Mark Twain
From: weinri@athena.cs.uga.edu (Kevin Weinrich)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: How does one write a suid *wrapper* in C to, e.g., mount a CD-ROM drive
Summary: The FAQ says *TO* do it, not *HOW*
Keywords: suid, setuid
Date: 14 Aug 92 17:49:40 GMT
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens

OK, so I know I'm not supposed to write a setuid script.  So how do
I write a secure C wrapper to run a mount or dump or etc. command?

Thanks very much,
Kevin Weinrich  weinri@athena.cs.uga.edu
From: gwc@root.co.uk (Geoff Clare)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Awk Variables
Date: 18 Aug 92 16:56:33 GMT
Organization: UniSoft Ltd., London, England

In <510@alden.UUCP> sgr@alden.UUCP (Stan Ryckman) writes:

>  Old awk's don't take var1=value1 type arguments.

>*** BEGIN GRIPE ***

>BTW, when this "enhancement" was invented, why didn't the brilliant
>person make it backwards compatible?  i.e.,
>    awk -f awk_script a=2
>FORMERLY read input from file "a=2" (a legal filename, after all.)
>Newer awks don't; they read from standard input after setting variable
>a to value 2.

I expected to see this guy flamed to a crisp but I haven't seen a single
followup here, so I'll stick my oar in.

Old awks DO take var=value arguments.  I have never come across a version
of awk that did not.  The only difference in this feature between old and
new awk is that if you want to set a variable on the command line AND
read standard input, you have to put an explicit "-" as a file name with
old awks, but new awks shouldn't need it.

-- 
Geoff Clare <gwc@root.co.uk>  (USA UUCP-only mailers: ...!uunet!root.co.uk!gwc)
UniSoft Limited, London, England.   Tel: +44 71 729 3773   Fax: +44 71 729 3273