Thank you, all of you, for the responses to the question most succinctly expressed by my subject and, arguably, poorly expressed in the body of my original post.
I am sorry that some of my words have been taken out of context; but, like whitespace in directories and filenames -- only an example -- this is something with which I will deal. It doesn't mean that I need like it nor agree that the existence of this challenge is necessary. Whitespace has -- nearly -- always been a possible character within directories and filenames; but, like rfc's, there has been a convention by which we *nix'ers avoided and proselytized against such use. I believe that the ``questionable'' tools can be re-written; but, nobody with extensive knowledge of said tools considers adding unnecessary convenience a worthwhile use of their programming time. I am also sorry that Wednesday was not a very jovial day for me and my surly nature obtained. Let this be the end . . . "Michael D. Schleif" wrote: > > More and more, *nix developers are following the dark path of using > whitespace in directory and filenames -- something which I've always > detested, from an sa standpoint ;< > > For example, on my upgraded potato box I may want to do something this > simple: > > grep pump `find /etc/ -type f` > > Normally, this is a quick and effective search and I am satisfied and > can get on with other business. > > However, now we have abominations, like these: > > /etc/X11/afterstep/hookdir/Debian/Apps/Net/Netscape/Communicator(static > 4.77) Browser > /etc/X11/afterstep/hookdir/Debian/WindowManagers/Window Maker > /etc/kde2/colors/40 Colors > > Even this, obviously, is *not* an answer: > > grep pump `find /etc/ -type f |\ > sed 's! !\\ !g; s!^!"!; s!$!"!'` > > How do others handle this? > > What do you think? -- Best Regards, mds mds resource 888.250.3987 Dare to fix things before they break . . . Our capacity for understanding is inversely proportional to how much we think we know. The more I know, the more I know I don't know . . .
