Re: [PATCH] Adding support for '--' in builtin echo's option parsing.

[Dan Douglas]

On Monday, April 01, 2013 03:32:16 PM Dave Rutherford wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 01, 2013 at 03:16:07PM +0300, Hemmo Nieminen wrote:
> > > Description:
> > >         Currently it seems to be impossible to e.g. print "-n" with the 
builtin
> > >         echo witout any extra characters.
> > 
> > You should use printf instead.  The echo command is a historical artifact
> > which cannot be used for general-purpose output.
> > 
> > http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/echo.html says:
> > 
> >     The echo utility shall not recognize the "--" argument in the manner
> >     specified by Guideline 10 of XBD Utility Syntax Guidelines ; "--"
> >     shall be recognized as a string operand.
> 
> Perhaps this is worth adjusting unless POSIXLY_CORRECT?

print(1) is an option for those that want --. AFAIK, it's consistent 
everywhere it's been implemented. There's a (barebones) example loadable, and 
it's quite easy to define a print shiv in shell if needed.

Although, comparing the length:

printf %s
print -rn

It's just as easy to type printf.
-- 
Dan Douglas