[Novalug] Filename handling: correctness vs. convenience

Michael Henry lug-user@drmikehenry.com
Sun Mar 1 08:46:33 EST 2009


bidwell wrote:
>  Michael,
>  Thanks for the very informative email.  I've been using ls everyday
>  for so long I never would have thought to look at the man page
>  and find the -Q option.
>
>  Matt

Matt,

I know what you mean.  In fact, until yesterday I didn't know about
``-Q`` either :-)  I find that sometimes, you can almost wish a feature
into existence.  Often I've encountered a problem I wanted to solve
using Linux, and I've thought "I wish command X would let me do Y". 
After a quick trip (re-)reading the manpage, I've often found the exact
feature I needed.  For yesterday's posting, I found ``-Q`` after wishing
I could distinguish spaces inside filenames from spaces between
filenames.

Another thing that sends me to the manpage is when I read about a new
command or flag on the mailing list.  Usually someone will post a quick
answer to a question, and they'll mention something new to me.  I'll
generally try to at least skim through the manpage for that tool to see
what it can do in general.  There's no way I'll remember the actual
switches in the future, but it's often enough just to know a feature
exists so you can look up the details later when you need them.

Michael Henry




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