On 2/24/11, Jim Meyering <[email protected]> wrote: > Bjartur Thorlacius wrote: >> On 2/24/11, Jim Meyering <[email protected]> wrote: >>> Bjartur Thorlacius wrote: >>>>> Maybe we should modify tac to add the -z option. Would you care to >>>> write a patch? >>>> It would be redundant, as tac -s $'\0' is equivalent. >>> >>> Are you using a non-GNU version of tac? >> I don't remember whether I was using FreeBSD or GNU tac. > > Please confirm. I may make a difference. > I was using GNU tac, but didn't actually test tac -s $'\0'. It parses it as a C string. Makes sense, once you've written it.
>>> If so, please tell us which one -- that may influence >>> the decision of whether to make "-s ''" work or to add -z. >>> >>> With GNU tac, that has never worked: >>> >>> $ tac -s '' >>> tac: separator cannot be empty >>> >> NUL!=the empty string. > > tac treats them the same way. > >>> Making -s accommodate an empty string argument is a possibility, >>> but that change looks like it'd be relatively disruptive. >>> >> I don't understand what that would do. Self-delimited strings would be >> quite disruptive, indeed, but I gather that's not what you're talking >> about. > > Changing tac.c to make -s accommodate an empty string > looks like it would require changes that are too invasive. > Maybe, but there's nothing stopping us from using non-standard string functions .
