× The internal search function is temporarily non-functional. The current search engine is no longer viable and we are researching alternatives.
As a stop gap measure, we are using Google's custom search engine service.
If you know of an easy to use, open source, search engine ... please contact support@midrange.com.



On Wed, 19 Dec 2001, Joe Pluta wrote:
> >
> > That's what 'touch' is supposed to do, Joe.  People frequently use it to
> > create empty files in UNIX environments.
>
> With invalid names?  I didn't think you could create a file called "*.jsp"
> in Unix.
>

Depends on which shell you're using under Unix.  I usually use tcsh,
and it tells me:

     % touch *.jsp
     touch: No match.

However, if I do:
     % touch '*.jsp'
     % ls -l \**
     -rw-r--r--  1 klemscot  wheel  0 Dec 19 16:22 *.jsp


QSHELL, however, doesn't try to emulate tcsh.  It tries to emulate the
Bourne Shell, "/bin/sh", so a better test is to try it there:

     % /bin/sh
     $ rm \*.jsp
     $ ls -l \**
     ls: **: No such file or directory
     $ touch *.jsp
     $ ls -l \**
     -rw-r--r--  1 scotty  wheel  0 Dec 19 16:26 *.jsp

As you can see...  it does exactly what QSHELL does.

As far as "not being able" to create a file with a '*' in it, AFIAK, the
only character you CAN'T have in a filename in Unix is '/'.  In
addition to that, you can't have a file called "." or ".." (though,
periods are otherwise allowed in the filename) Beyond that, everything that
I know of is legal. Inserting things like '*' is not recommended, because
it's confusing, and harder to work with, but it's certainly legal. :)




As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

This thread ...

Follow-Ups:
Replies:

Follow On AppleNews
Return to Archive home page | Return to MIDRANGE.COM home page

This mailing list archive is Copyright 1997-2024 by midrange.com and David Gibbs as a compilation work. Use of the archive is restricted to research of a business or technical nature. Any other uses are prohibited. Full details are available on our policy page. If you have questions about this, please contact [javascript protected email address].

Operating expenses for this site are earned using the Amazon Associate program and Google Adsense.