jamesb-netbsd@alongtheway.com (Jim Breton) writes:
> [ x"$VAR" != x"value" ]
> 
> Does the 'x' have some special meaning?  (If so, are there any other
> characters with special meanings?)

Belts and suspenders? *

The quotes should be enough for any sane shell, but why not hedge
one's bets a bit and insure that the zero-length string will be
interpreted correctly too?  

Also under "sh -x" the zero length string is darn hard to tell from no
string.  Putting an "x" there makes things easy to see.

-wolfgang

* Or seatbelts and airbags for the late 20th century crowd.
-- 
       Wolfgang Rupprecht <wolfgang+gnus@dailyplanet.wsrcc.com>
		    http://www.wsrcc.com/wolfgang/
Coming soon: GPS mapping tools for Open Systems. http://www.gnomad-mapping.com/