null pathnames

[Jeff Glass]

>> 	Well, yes, more-or-less;  "the null file name refers to the current
>> directory" [The UNIX Time-Sharing System], and repeated slashes are ignored,
>> but (a) is this anything but a kludge so that "/" works? and (b) apart from
>> "/", has anyone ever used this facility in real-life?
>> 
>> 	V7 (but not some other systems) even allows "fred///" as a synonym
>> for "fred" (an ordinary file);  I can see no reason why this, and "///tmp//"
>> and so on, should not be errors.

One use I have found for this is in correcting pathname errors with the
csh history mechanism:

	% /usr/local/lib/uucp/uucico ...
	/usr/local/lib/uucp/uucico: Command not found.
	% ^local^
	/usr//lib/uucp/uucico ...
	%

/jeff
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