Transposing a file - Page 2

Annihilannic · #1 (**permalink**) 09-02-2008

Point taken. It works in ksh and the so-called POSIX sh shell.

cfajohnson · #2 (**permalink**) 09-02-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Annihilannic

Point taken. It works in ksh and the so-called POSIX sh shell.

The example I gave was in a standard POSIX shell; there it doesn't work.

If it works with /bin/sh, then /bin/sh is probably bash or ksh93.

DeCoTwc · #3 (**permalink**) 09-02-2008

Well if transposing is what you want...why not use the transpose command?

Quote:

cat file|tr "\n" " "

Annihilannic · #4 (**permalink**) 09-02-2008

I was confused by this when I started to administrate HP-UX systems relatively recently. Their /bin/sh is distinct from the Bourne POSIX standard shell, it is apparently known as "the POSIX shell" and has a lot of ksh features (but not all). From the HP-UX 11.23 man page:

Quote:

The POSIX.2 standard requires that, on a POSIX-compliant system,
executing the command sh activates the POSIX shell (located in file
/usr/bin/sh on HP-UX systems), and executing the command man sh
produces an on-line manual entry that displays the syntax of the POSIX
shell command-line.

However, the sh command has historically been associated with the
conventional Bourne shell, which could confuse some users. To meet
standards requirements and also clarify the relationships of the
various shells and where they reside on the system, this entry
provides command-line syntax and a brief description of each shell,
and lists the names of the manual entries where each shell is
described in greater detail.

NOTE : The Bourne shell (/usr/old/bin/sh) is removed from the system
starting with HP-UX 11i Version 1.5. Please use the POSIX shell
(/usr/bin/sh) as an alternative.

What operating system were you testing on? The effect you see is what I'd have expected on Solaris, for example, where they seem to have a policy of retaining every piece of prehistoric paraphernalia they can (/usr/bin/awk is the one I find particularly frustrating).

cfajohnson · #5 (**permalink**) 09-02-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Annihilannic

I was confused by this when I started to administrate HP-UX systems relatively recently. Their /bin/sh is distinct from the Bourne POSIX standard shell, it is apparently known as "the POSIX shell" and has a lot of ksh features (but not all).

A lot of features in ksh are not part of the POSIX shell specification. This is one of them.

Quote:

What operating system were you testing on?

That is irrelevant. I was testing with a standard POSIX shell; I could have had the same result on many systems.

$(<filename) is not part of the POSIX specification; it is an extension implemented by some POSIX shells, primarily bash and ksh93.

Annihilannic · #6 (**permalink**) 09-02-2008

So it's safe to say that the /bin/sh that HP choose to call the POSIX shell is in fact a superset of POSIX, much like bash and ksh93.

I couldn't find the POSIX specification itself... unless SuSv3 is the same thing? I seem to find the terms used almost interchangeably. Anyway, as you say, SuSv3 says nothing about $(< ), nor does it mention brace expansion (test{1,2,3} becomes test1 test2 test3), which the shell in question also seems to support.

The Open Group -- the Single UNIX Specification Version 3

We digress.

cfajohnson · #7 (**permalink**) 09-02-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Annihilannic

So it's safe to say that the /bin/sh that HP choose to call the POSIX shell is in fact a superset of POSIX, much like bash and ksh93.

It probably is one of those two.

What does /bin/sh --version return?

Quote:

I couldn't find the POSIX specification itself... unless SuSv3 is the same thing?

Yes.

Quote:

I seem to find the terms used almost interchangeably. Anyway, as you say, SuSv3 says nothing about $(< ), nor does it mention brace expansion (test{1,2,3} becomes test1 test2 test3), which the shell in question also seems to support.

Then it must be bash (or a more recent version of ksh93 than I have).

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