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From: budd@bu-cs.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Command interfaces
Message-ID: <17130@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Date: Mon, 7-Dec-87 22:54:14 EST
Article-I.D.: bu-cs.17130
Posted: Mon Dec  7 22:54:14 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Dec-87 19:06:20 EST
References: <1257@boulder.Colorado.EDU> <6840002@hpcllmv.HP.COM>
Reply-To: budd@buita.UUCP (Phil Budne)
Organization: Boston Univ. CS Dept.
Lines: 19

Older TOPS-10 programs had ersatz wildcarding (most notablly PIP,
which would accept imbeded spaces in filenames), while more recent
CUSPier ones used the WILD libarary along with SCAN to provide a
consistant command interface.  Like all such tools there can be more,
or less sophisticated uses of them. LINK implemented per file
switches.  SCAN also provided a consistant init file parser (ISCAN)
which read a SWITCH.INI file and looked for switches for this utility
(like a .Xdefaults file).  Many TOPS-10 utilities (including PIP) had
powerful wildcard abilities;

.RENAME FOO*.X=BAR*.Y

Neither TOPS-20 nor Un*x can do this as simply.  (Of course in csh I
just use foreach when I want to do anything fancy)

I don't deny the beauty of the Un*x command line philosophy, but there
are times when the program does know better.  Perhaps globbing should
be per shell procedure / alias.

	Phil Budne, Boston University