string comparisons in C

[Doug Gwyn]

In article <12689 at bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> scs at adam.pika.mit.edu (Steve Summit) writes:
>In article <44672745.14a1f at gtephx.UUCP> covertr at gtephx.UUCP (Richard E. Covert) writes:
>>P.S. Does anyone know if pnmatch() is implemented on other C compilers??
>No vendor should provide a routine named "pnmatch."

That's based on a misunderstanding.  The actual constraint is that a
vendor is not supposed to interfere with an application's having its
own function (or external variable, or whatever) named "pnmatch".
Such a vendor-supplied function can be included in the standard C
library if it is not invoked by any standard library routines and
if it is not declared in any standard header.

>Similarly, portable programs cannot really use these extensions,
>no matter how convenient they may be.

A portable program cannot rely on the existence of a vendor-specific
function such as "pnmatch", but only because it doesn't exist in some
environments -- no other reason.