Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 (Tek) 9/28/84 based on 9/17/84; site zeus.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!tektronix!teklds!zeus!bobr From: bobr@zeus.UUCP Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards Subject: Re: awk vs. regular expressions starting with equal sign Message-ID: <435@zeus.UUCP> Date: Mon, 17-Dec-84 12:39:20 EST Article-I.D.: zeus.435 Posted: Mon Dec 17 12:39:20 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 20-Dec-84 03:23:44 EST References: <4770@utzoo.UUCP>, <1570@pur-phy.UUCP> <4789@utzoo.UUCP> Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR Lines: 27 > > Try /\=/. It worked for me. > > About six people have told me this, or variants of this. I *thought* > it was clear from my original posting that I *know* how to work around > the problem. My point was the absence of a *fix*, not the absence of a > workaround kludge. > -- > Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology > {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry 1. It was not clear from your orginal posting that you knew that there was a work-around, or I would not have responded in a manner such as above. I did think it strange coming from you, because your previous postings have given me an impression of competence and thoughtfulness. 2. Your quest for a fix implies that there is a problem. That I'm not so sure about. Both C expression syntax and regular expression syntax are consistent in isolation from each other, and the conflict arises only in their concerted application. The ambiguity is a syntactic one that would require an irregularity in either regular expressions or arithmetic expressions to resolve it. Better that they should remain pure, and the conflicts of their mutual application be documented rather than coming up with yet another mechanism, one more exception that must be remembered. -- Robert Reed, Logic Design Systems Division, tektronix!teklds!bobr