On 22 August 2015 at 22:37, Paul Eggert <[email protected]> wrote:

> That's annoying.  Thanks for the bug report.  I'm a bit dubious about
> equating zero to infinity, though, so I installed the attached patch
> instead.  It will let you use whatever large number you like.  E.g.:
>
>   ls -w999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
>
> will do the right thing.  For now, you can work around the problem with:
>
>   ls -w4294967295
>
> which should work on unpatched GNU ‘ls’.
>
>
Hello, Paul,

Thanks for the quick answer.

Regarding the zero being infinity, well, it doesn't need to be zero.

But a shortcut would be nice. For example, instead of:

ls -w999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

it could be ls -wMAX

I thought about zero because:

1- its a number, easier to implement (than parsing a word like MAX)
2- its not being used (gives an error if you try) (*)

Its just that a script with so many 99..99 numbers would be hard to read,
nothing more.

Ty,
Beco

--
(*) Debian Jessie:
$ ls -m -w0
ls: invalid line width: 0
$ ls -m -w18446744073709551616
ls: invalid line width: 18446744073709551616
$ ls -m -w18446744073709551615
(runs ok, no error)



-- 
Dr Beco
A.I. researcher

"I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure
you realize that what you heard is not what I meant" -- Alan Greenspan

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