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ID Category Severity Type Date Submitted Last Update
0001599 [1003.1(2016/18)/Issue7+TC2] Shell and Utilities Objection Error 2022-08-15 10:26 2022-11-08 14:10
Reporter geoffclare View Status public  
Assigned To
Priority normal Resolution Accepted  
Status Applied  
Name Geoff Clare
Organization The Open Group
User Reference
Section strings
Page Number 3259
Line Number 109562
Interp Status ---
Final Accepted Text
Summary 0001599: Unspecified behaviour for "strings -" too narrow
Description The strings DESCRIPTION says:
If the first argument is '-', the results are unspecified.

However, many implementations also treat '-' as special when it is not the first argument. They handle it as if it were a -a option, so:

strings -n 1 - file

is equivalent to:

strings -n 1 -a file

On Solaris, macOS, and HP-UX, this includes still recognising options after '-', e.g. for:

strings -n 1 - -t x file

the -t x is recognised as an option. (Whereas GNU, with POSIXLY_CORRECT, reports that files named -t and x were not found.)

GNU, Solaris, and HP-UX also treat an operand of '-' that is not the first argument as special. (For GNU it turns on -a for later files; for Solaris it turns on -a for all files; for HP-UX it is treated as a file named '-a'!)
Desired Action On page 3259 line 109562 section strings, change:
If the first argument is '-', the results are unspecified.
to:
If any argument is '-', the results are unspecified.

Tags tc3-2008
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- Issue History
Date Modified Username Field Change
2022-08-15 10:26 geoffclare New Issue
2022-08-15 10:26 geoffclare Name => Geoff Clare
2022-08-15 10:26 geoffclare Organization => The Open Group
2022-08-15 10:26 geoffclare Section => strings
2022-08-15 10:26 geoffclare Page Number => 3259
2022-08-15 10:26 geoffclare Line Number => 109562
2022-08-15 10:26 geoffclare Interp Status => ---
2022-10-27 15:20 Don Cragun Status New => Resolved
2022-10-27 15:20 Don Cragun Resolution Open => Accepted
2022-10-27 15:21 Don Cragun Tag Attached: tc3-2008
2022-11-08 14:10 geoffclare Status Resolved => Applied


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