0001297: Potentially misleading wording wrt removal of empty fields

Austin Group Defect Tracker

Aardvark Mark IV

Viewing Issue Simple Details [ Jump to Notes ]

[ Issue History ] [ Print ]

Category

Severity

Type

Date Submitted

Last Update

0001297

[1003.1(2016/18)/Issue7+TC2] Shell and Utilities

Editorial

Enhancement Request

2019-10-15 03:23

2019-12-12 17:28

Reporter

kre

View Status

public

Assigned To

Priority

normal

Resolution

Duplicate

Status

Closed

Name

Robert Elz

Organization

User Reference

Section

2.6

Page Number

2353

Line Number

75008-10

Interp Status

---

Final Accepted Text

Summary

0001297: Potentially misleading wording wrt removal of empty fields

Description

A non-English speaking reader justified an implementation doing

    set -- ''
    set -- X $* Y
    echo $#
    2

vs

    set -- '' ''
    set -- X $* Y
    echo $#
    4

based upon the wording in XCU 2.6:

        If the complete expansion appropriate for a word results in an
        empty field, that empty field shall be deleted from the list of
        fields that form the completely expanded command, [...]

the reasoning being that in the 2nd case above, there is not "an empty field"
there are 2 empty fields produced from the expansion of the word "$*" and
thus there is no expectation/requirement that anything be deleted.

I do not believe that the wording was intended to produce that result, or
that any native English speaker/reader would interpret the language that
way, while "an" (or "a") is used in the singular, it is not imperative
singular in a case like this.

However we should not be targeting just native English speakers in the
standard, and it would be harmless to write explicitly what this actually
means, so:

Desired Action

Assuming they still remain after all the other changes that have
been made, change the words in XCU 2.6 page 2353 line 75008 from

    If the complete expansion appropriate for a word results in an
    empty field, that empty field shall be deleted from

to

    Any empty field that results from the complete expansion appropriate
    for a word shall be deleted from

(or something similar with a similar intent). If the relevant text has
been altered by some other bug report, make sure that the intended replacement
does not have a similar problem.

Tags

No tags attached.

Attached Files

Relationships

duplicate of

0001123

Closed

1003.1(2013)/Issue7+TC1

Problematic specification of execution environment for word expansions

Notes
(0004622) geoffclare (manager) 2019-10-15 10:10	Your stated assumption (in the Desired Action) is false. The text in question is being deleted by bug 0001123

Issue History
Date Modified	Username	Field	Change
2019-10-15 03:23	kre	New Issue
2019-10-15 03:23	kre	Name	=> Robert Elz
2019-10-15 03:23	kre	Section	=> 2.6
2019-10-15 03:23	kre	Page Number	=> 2353
2019-10-15 03:23	kre	Line Number	=> 75008-10
2019-10-15 10:10	geoffclare	Note Added: 0004622
2019-10-15 10:11	geoffclare	Relationship added	duplicate of 0001123
2019-12-12 17:28	geoffclare	Interp Status	=> ---
2019-12-12 17:28	geoffclare	Status	New => Closed
2019-12-12 17:28	geoffclare	Resolution	Open => Duplicate

Mantis 1.1.6[^]