On Mon, 25 Nov 2024 at 01:08, Andreas Kähäri <andreas.kah...@abc.se> wrote:
> I don't agree that the special parameters should be written as $! etc. > since those are their _values_ when used in the shell (exactness is a > virtue in a manual). > In a *printed* manual I would agree with you, but in a man page where the only practical navigation is by means of the search function provided by the user's pager, showing only a bare single symbol renders that search facility useless to most users. Exactitude is a virtue when it serves comprehension and thus utility. When it impedes utility then it's time to yield to common sense and compassion. -Martin PS: point of order: $! is not the *value* of the variable !, but rather the two-symbol syntax that when *executed* results in its value being substituted. When read by a human, it's context-dependent whether the human is expected to make that substitution, or that the “$” is an informal way to disambiguate the following word or symbol as the name of a variable. But even allowing for that, yes it grates when people say things like “assign to $IFS”. If only this were Perl...
