This is WILD!
Under Ubuntu (where I am cross-posting this problem) I have lately noticed by terminal windows/tabs closing unexpectedly. I finally caught it: I was composing a complicated command so I practices it a few times commented out - that is, with a # at the start of the line. What is now happening is as follows:
- If I start the line with #<white-space> i.e. a space or tab following the #, the shell abruptly exits.
- If I start with the # and a letter, say l, it traces down my history for all old commands that started with l. When I add a letter to that - e.g. s, the list is pared down to all old commands [in my history] that had started with ls. As soon as my typed comment becomes fails to match anything in my history, it exits.
- If there are any command lines in my history that did start with blanks (I've been experimenting) it pops those up, paring the list as I type characters, until it hits something not in my history. Then it exits. This is essentially the same as my point above.
This appears to be a bizarre setting or option in my history; that the
hash activates a history search.
I don't want it! What is it and how do I turn it off?
The version I'm using is "Version JM 93u 2011-02-08".
This does not happen with bash; the first time I have found bash behaving better than ksh. Furthermore, after searching the ksh man page, it occurred to me to
set -o emacs and try it. I still get the history search but it does not exit the shell upon confirmed mismatch.
Thanks for diagnosis/advice/help.
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-- Rasputin Paskudniak II (In pursuit of undomesticated, semi-aquatic avians)
03-06-2012
ksh: hash (#) at beginning of a line exits the shell
