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ID Category Severity Type Date Submitted Last Update
0000634 [1003.1(2008)/Issue 7] Shell and Utilities Editorial Enhancement Request 2012-12-04 21:56 2020-03-23 10:43
Reporter weeks View Status public  
Assigned To ajosey
Priority normal Resolution Accepted As Marked  
Status Applied  
Name Nathan Weeks
Organization USDA-ARS
User Reference
Section awk
Page Number 2445
Line Number 77748
Interp Status ---
Final Accepted Text Note: 0001427
Summary 0000634: add fflush built-in function to awk
Description fflush() is a useful extension that has long been available in the most versions of awk, and is implemented in at least the following modern versions:

* gawk 4.0.1
* mawk 1.3.4-20121129
* BWK awk 20110810
* BusyBox 1.20.2 awk
* awka 0.7.5

It is absent from:

* jawk 1.02
* AIX 7.1 /usr/bin/awk
* HP-UX 11i v2 /usr/bin/awk
* Solaris 10 /usr/xpg4/bin/awk

This request is being put forth after a discussion initiated by Arnold Robbins,
the gawk maintainer, that included Thomas Dickey, who maintains mawk. Both
have recently made changes to their respective implementations to more closely
conform to the proposed description for the fflush built-in function.

The suggested description for fflush was chosen while being cognizant of the following implementation differences:

In mawk 1.3.4-20121129 and BusyBox 1.20.2 awk, 'flush()' (without an argument)
flushes only stdout. This was also true of gawk 4.0.1, but a change was
recently to the trunk that makes both 'flush()' and 'flush("")' flush all
relevant open output files & pipes to mimic the BWK awk behavior (and desired
behavior for POSIX):

http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/gawk.git/commit/?id=db20bfeba4c618f380315e18e6433fb6b8e63c26 [^]

In BWK awk, 'fflush(expression)' returns EOF, whereas gawk and mawk return -1,
hence the wording "If fflush is successful, it shall return 0; otherwise, it
shall return non-zero." This could be "shall return a negative integer", but I
chose the current wording for consistency with the description of "close".

In BWK awk, 'fflush()' and 'fflush("")' always return 0. In my opinion, this
isn't contradictory to the proposed description for the fflush built-in function.

BWK awk allows 'fflush' without an argument list. This usage isn't a good candidate for standardization for the reasons described in the "rationale" section.

In BusyBox 1.20.2 awk, any invocation of fflush returns 0.

Before mawk 1.3.4-20121129, if an internal C fflush() call failed while
executing awk fflush built-in function, mawk would exit with a non-zero exit
status. In the 1.3.4-20121129 release, the awk fflush function will now return
-1 instead.
Desired Action 1. Add a description for fflush() to the "Input/Output and General Functions" section:

    fflush([expression])
        Write any unwritten data to the file or pipe opened by a print or
        printf statement with the same string-valued expression. If no
        argument, or if expression evaluates to the null string, then write
        all such data for all such open files and pipes.

        If fflush is successful, it shall return 0; otherwise, it shall return
        non-zero.

2. List fflush in the description of the BUILTIN_FUNC_NAME token in the Grammar
3. Add fflush to the list of functions that BUILTIN_FUNC_NAME represents in "Lexical Conventions" #11
Tags issue8
Attached Files

- Relationships

-  Notes
(0001427)
geoffclare (manager)
2012-12-05 16:49
edited on: 2012-12-05 17:00

After page 2445 line 77748 add to the "Input/Output and General
Functions" section:

    fflush([expression])
        Write any unwritten data to the file or piped stream opened by
    a print or printf statement with the same string-valued
    expression. If no argument, or if expression evaluates to the
    null string, then write all such data for all such open files
    and piped streams, and standard output.

        If fflush is successful, it shall return 0; otherwise, it
    shall return non-zero.

At page 2447 line 77841 add "fflush" after "close" in the description
of the BUILTIN_FUNC_NAME token in the Grammar.

At page 2454 line 78177 add "fflush" in the appropriate alphabetical
position to the list of functions that BUILTIN_FUNC_NAME represents in
"Lexical Conventions" #11.


- Issue History
Date Modified Username Field Change
2012-12-04 21:56 weeks New Issue
2012-12-04 21:56 weeks Status New => Under Review
2012-12-04 21:56 weeks Assigned To => ajosey
2012-12-04 21:56 weeks Name => Nathan Weeks
2012-12-04 21:56 weeks Organization => USDA-ARS
2012-12-04 21:56 weeks Section => awk
2012-12-04 21:56 weeks Page Number => 0
2012-12-04 21:56 weeks Line Number => 0
2012-12-05 16:49 geoffclare Note Added: 0001427
2012-12-05 16:52 geoffclare Page Number 0 => 2445
2012-12-05 16:52 geoffclare Line Number 0 => 77748
2012-12-05 16:52 geoffclare Interp Status => ---
2012-12-05 16:52 geoffclare Final Accepted Text => Note: 0001427
2012-12-05 16:52 geoffclare Status Under Review => Resolved
2012-12-05 16:52 geoffclare Resolution Open => Accepted As Marked
2012-12-05 16:52 geoffclare Tag Attached: issue8
2012-12-05 17:00 geoffclare Note Edited: 0001427
2020-03-23 10:43 geoffclare Status Resolved => Applied


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