/-happy

[Randal Schwartz]

In article <3139 at dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov>, merritt at iris613 (John H Merritt) writes:
| Explain why '/////' is valid in the following statement:
| 
| cd /./../tmp/////../././bin
| 
| It is interesting that any permutation of '.', '..', '/' and directory
| names can be used with, at least, csh, sh, and tcsh to yield a valid
| path name.

The null pathname (look carefully between the consecutive "/"-s, and
you'll see them there) is a valid synonym for the "current directory".

So aaa////bbb is the same as aaa/././././bbb, except that you don't
have to stat "." four additional times (it'd be fast, but it still
takes time).

Just another Unix hacker,
-- 
/=Randal L. Schwartz, Stonehenge Consulting Services (503)777-0095 ==========\
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