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From: Simon Wright <simon.j.wright@mac.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Ada.Command_Line and wildcards
Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2007 16:37:27 +0000
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Date: 2007-02-24T16:37:27+00:00
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Anders Wirzenius <anders@no.email.thanks.invalid> writes:

> ... so one can ask why the design was not done the opposite way: If
> you want to have the shell to expand, use an option (like find -x
> *.adb), else the parameter is passed as such to the application.

That sounds a very odd design. The shell would have to parse the
command line to see if there was an option requiring expansion. And
what if -x already had a meaning to the program?

The Unix shell design seems quite clear -- unescaped wildcards get
expanded. Of course, it's not just '*' wildcards; expressions such as
*.ad[bs] or foo.{adb,ads} also have their place.

I think we ought to live with the shells the way they are -- it's true
of Ada, after all.