the easiest thing to do is not use spaces in your file names, even if others do in theirs. most people take that approach, even on unix, and it works fine.
if you are worried about names with spaces and want to make a script more robust, then the simplest option is to set ifs=' ' while you are manipulating the file names with `{} commands. spaces may be allowed but newlines most certainly are not. i keep nl=' ' in my profile specifically so i can say ifs=$nl. > using ws in filenames is a fossil-only problem; > kfs, cwfs and ken's fs won't allow it. gee, i'm pretty sure i read somewhere that plan 9 lets any program be a file server ... >> So what happens when you drawterm from a un*x box or access a VFAT partition? > > nothing. i'm running ken's fs, so from drawterm ... the question (quoted) was about talking to non-plan 9 file systems, i.e. a linux or windows /mnt/term or a dossrv disk. if you are trying to disallow space you'd have to fiddle with every file server you could possibly talk to, or you'd have to edit the kernel. the barn door has been open for a decade. it's very late to be talking about closing it. http://swtch.com/cgi-bin/plan9history.cgi?f=1999/0323/port/chan.c;v=diff;e=1 russ