+ - and = in option strings

[Tim Maroney]

While we're on the subject of command-line syntax:

Has anyone else noted that 4.2bsd uses the pound sign ("#") as an option to
several commands, for instance, lpr(1)?  How dumb can you get?  Both csh and
sh scripts will consider the pound sign to begin a comment, so not only will
your "#" option get zapped, so will all other options after it the line, and
the program will probably interpret the "-" left over as meaning to use the
standard input as an input file argument.

I was really surprised to see this silliness in what is supposedly a
production-quality project written by people experienced with UNIX (which is
[repeat after me] a trademark of Bell Labs [or whatever it's called now]).
--
Tim Maroney, The Censored Hacker
mcnc!unc!tim (USENET), tim.unc at csnet-relay (ARPA)

All opinions expressed herein are completely my own, so don't go assuming
that anyone else at UNC feels the same way.