Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!mattd
From: mattd@Apple.COM (Matt Deatherage)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: use of : instead of /
Message-ID: <33902@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 10 Aug 89 17:35:29 GMT
References: <8908092340.AA26029@trout.nosc.mil> <10699@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 28

In article <10699@smoke.BRL.MIL> gwyn@brl.arpa (Doug Gwyn) writes:
>In article <8908092340.AA26029@trout.nosc.mil> delton@pro-carolina.cts.com (System Administrator) writes:
>-Harumph?  GS/OS takes as the terminator the first terminator used in a
>-pathname so if you start out using : then : is the terminator.  If you start
>-the path with / then / is the terminator and : could be in the file/directory
>-names.
>
>So "a:b/c" parses as "a" "b/c" while "a/b:c" parses as "a" "b:c"?
>Is that supposed to be rational?

No, it's not, and it isn't.  It's wrong.

If GS/OS finds a "/" before a ":", then "/" becomes the terminator.  However,
colons are *ALWAYS* illegal in GS/OS pathnames, and "a/b:c" will return an
"invalid pathname syntax" error, unless preceded by something with a colon
to make the colon the terminator.  For example, "10:a/b:c" is a perfectly
legal pathname.


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