Re: bin/57252: wc

[Marc Daniel Fege <marc%fege.net@localhost>]

The following reply was made to PR bin/57252; it has been noted by GNATS.

From: Marc Daniel Fege <marc%fege.net@localhost>
To: gnats-bugs%netbsd.org@localhost
Cc: 
Subject: Re: bin/57252: wc
Date: Thu, 02 Mar 2023 12:27:44 +0100

 Hello RVP,
 
 >  Well, those extra spaces are annoying, but, you can get rid of them
 >  pretty easily like this:
 >=20
 >  $ x=3D$(x=3D$(wc -l < /etc/motd); echo $x)
 >  $ echo "$x"
 >  8
 >  $
 >=20
 
 thanks a lot for the help. As I understand it =E2=80=93 and I am just a use=
 r, not=20
 software developer at all =E2=80=93 SUSv4 2018 states something about unpar=
 sability of=20
 that format. Am I wrong? Therefore: do those annoying spaces need to be the=
 re=20
 in the first place (to be compatible in one way or another)? The GNU-
 implementation is more reasonable in this regard one has to admit. This wou=
 ld=20
 enable to work out the issue by it's roots and not by a workaround. Sure, t=
 his=20
 issue is also true with all BSDs due to their common source heritage. But i=
 t=20
 would be wise to remove those "quirks" anyway so that others do not need to=
 =20
 figure out the same obstacles again and again. Therefore, make the oval whe=
 el=20
 actual round and pass it on to the next generations seems to be more=20
 sustainable imho -- just a suggestion.
 
 =2D Marc.
 
 Am Donnerstag, 2. M=C3=A4rz 2023, 12:05:01 CET schrieben Sie:
 > The following reply was made to PR bin/57252; it has been noted by GNATS.
 >=20
 > From: RVP <rvp%SDF.ORG@localhost>
 > To: gnats-bugs%netbsd.org@localhost
 > Cc:
 > Subject: Re: bin/57252: wc
 > Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2023 11:03:24 +0000 (UTC)
 >=20
 >  On Thu, 2 Mar 2023, Marc Daniel Fege wrote:
 >  > 	cat /etc/hosts | wc -w
 >  >=20
 >  > produces a more clean output what I mean. I just saw after I checked
 >  > the=3D20
 >  > output with an editor that there are just plain space characters and no
 >  > tab=3D s=3D20
 >  > and also adds unneccessary empty spaces in advance of that output. Kind
 >  > of=3D
 >  > =3D20
 >  > odd.
 >=20
 >  Well, those extra spaces are annoying, but, you can get rid of them
 >  pretty easily like this:
 >=20
 >  $ x=3D$(x=3D$(wc -l < /etc/motd); echo $x)
 >  $ echo "$x"
 >  8
 >  $
 >=20
 >  And, SUSv4 2018 actually recommends a single space instead of tabs:
 >=20
 >  ```
 >       STDOUT
 >=20
 >        By default, the standard output shall contain an entry for each
 >        input file of the form:
 >  "%d %d %d %s\n", <newlines>, <words>, <bytes>, <file>
 >  ```
 >=20
 >  And,
 >=20
 >  ```
 >       RATIONALE
 >=20
 >        The output file format pseudo- printf() string differs from the
 >        System V version of wc:
 >  "%7d%7d%7d %s\n"
 >=20
 >        which produces possibly ambiguous and unparsable results for very
 >        large files, as it assumes no number shall exceed six digits.
 >  ```
 >=20
 >  -RVP