Re: uniq: missing option -W / --check-fields=N

[Matt Keenan]

Eric Blake wrote:
> > uniq(1) used to have an option for checking only a certain number of 
> > fields. I have since noticed that some scripts I wrote some time ago 
> > have stopped working because the -W / --check-fields=N option has 
> > disappeared. Can it please be put back in?
> >     
>
> It's still there in the latest stable version, 5.96:
> $ uniq --version | head -n1
> uniq (GNU coreutils) 5.96
> $ uniq --help | grep check
>   -w, --check-chars=N   compare no more than N characters in lines
>
>   
not --check-chars=N, I'm talking about --check-fields=N.
> > I am happy to write a patch 
> > to do so if no-one else wants to do it. Is there a reason why it 
> > disappeared?
> >     
>
> Probably because you switched systems or PATH, and are no
> longer using the GNU coreutils version of uniq.
>
>   

I upgraded recently from Debian Sarge to Ubuntu Dapper, and I noticed 
that the -W (note the caps!) flag had disappeared. Maybe it was a Debian 
distro patch. Paul Eggert has mentioned that upstream uniq has never had 
a -W flag. Would you be receptive to a patch? I'm happy to write one.

Matt