Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!lll-lcc!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!decvax!decwrl!pyramid!prls!mips!quacky!dce From: dce@quacky.UUCP (David Elliott) Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions Subject: Re: ":" as a csh command Message-ID: <121@quacky.UUCP> Date: Sat, 20-Dec-86 12:57:18 EST Article-I.D.: quacky.121 Posted: Sat Dec 20 12:57:18 1986 Date-Received: Sat, 20-Dec-86 22:39:00 EST References: <666@cullvax.UUCP> Reply-To: dce@quacky.UUCP (David Elliott) Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 26 In article <666@cullvax.UUCP> drw@cullvax.UUCP (Dale Worley) writes: >What does the ':' command to csh do? When I type > : >or > :: >or > :::::: >csh doesn't seem to do anything, but if I type > : a >it says ":: Too many arguments". > It helps you prevent running a shell script with csh. A file beginning with : run this with sh, not csh will fail immediately if run by csh. You see, you can no longer reliably distinguish csh and sh scripts by looking for '#' as the first character, since AT&T Unix systems allow # as a comment and do not have csh scripts (it sure would be nice if everyone spoke #!). David Elliott Mips Computer Systems