Re: man page "-c" explanation clarity

[Matthew Woehlke]

Paul A. Clarke wrote:
> The man page states, for the "-c" option:
>        -c string If the -c option is present, then  commands  are  read from
>                  string.   If  there are arguments after the string, they are
>                  assigned to the positional parameters, starting with $0.
> I think the phrase "arguments after the string" is confusing in that the 
> "arguments" here are really still within "the string", not after.
>
> I'd suggest slightly different wording, such as:
> "... If argments follow the respective commands within the string, they 
> are..."

No, that's wrong, because it is talking about positional parameters as 
seen by /the shell/, not anything that is subsequently executed.

For example, 'bash -c echo foo' does not do what you might expect. It 
runs the built-in "echo" in the modified environment '0=foo'. Try e.g. 
"bash -c 'echo 0=$0 @=$@' foo bar". This is not the same as subsequently 
passing arguments to a program, which must be done within the *single* 
argument to '-c'.

--
Matthew
Don't read this. What did I just tell you? Why are you still reading?