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From: bobl@aeolus.UUCP (Bob Lewis)
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: $ in identifiers -- poll
Message-ID: <3@aeolus.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Dec-84 15:26:28 EST
Article-I.D.: aeolus.3
Posted: Mon Dec  3 15:26:28 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 5-Dec-84 00:21:01 EST
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 26

I'd like to bring up the matter of using '$' in C identifiers.  Here are
several points of view I've come across:

Ritchie's "The C Programming Language -- Reference Manual":
While he states that '_' counts as a letter, he says nothing about '$'.

4.2bsd "cc":
'$' counts as a letter.

VAX/VMS "CC":
'$' counts as a letter, but the documentation warns:

	The dollar sign should be used only in identifiers for VAX/VMS
	global symbols.  Identifiers that contain dollar signs may not
	be portable.

What does the standard say about this?  '$' is not used anywhere else in C.
I think its use as a letter should be officially permitted.  (It makes a
nice "package" identifier, c.f. VMS.)

I'm conducting an informal poll on what other C compilers do with '$'.
If you're interested, please send me your findings and I will summarize.
(Deadline: 12/10/84).

	- Bob L.
	  ...!tektronix!teklds!bobl