Michael Wardle wrote:
> Hi Chet
>
> Thanks for your very prompt reply.
>
> I understand that globbing is happening, but I don't understand why
> deleting a parameter should occur with nullglob set if the parameter
> matches but the word to delete doesn't. The bash behavior seems to make
> this construct useful only for file name deletion if nullglob is set,
> when it seems to be useful for any substring deletion if nullglob is
> unset.
The word in question is *not* being parameter expanded. It is the
result of a *different* parameter expansion: the unquoted expansion
of $connectioninfo.
Since the results of the parameter expansion of $connectioninfo are
subject to filename expansion, the unquoted `*' in that word is run
through *normal filename expansion*. Since that expansion looks only
for filenames and, since nullglob is set, deletes words containing
globbing operators that don't match filenames, the word ends up being
removed.
You might get a clearer picture of what's happening if you ran
echo "$connectioninfo"
and inhibited the filename expansion that normally takes place.
> I also noticed in the POSIX standard that quoting the word part should
> cause it to be literal and prevent globbing. If I try this in bash, I
> get the same result as in my original message, that is:
You have misunderstood which expansion needs to be quoted. It's the
expansion of $connectioninfo that needs quoting, as above.
Chet
--
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
( ``Discere est Dolere'' -- chet )
Live...Laugh...Love
Chet Ramey, ITS, CWRU [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/
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