On 20 Apr 2006, Steve Langasek spake thusly: > On Thu, Apr 20, 2006 at 12:05:16AM -0500, Manoj Srivastava wrote: >>>> I expect to be able to pipe stuff to $PAGER, or invoke $PAGER >>>> on a text file, like so: > >>>> % cat ~/.bash_profile | $PAGER >>>> % $PAGER ~/.bash_profile > >>> That seems to be an awfully user-specific expectation, given that >>> you can't assume that PAGER is set *at all* by default. > >> Err, if the PAGER is empty, default it to "more". What does >> that have to do with the price of tea in china? > > $ echo $PAGER > > $ $PAGER tea\ in\ china > bash: ./tea in china: Permission denied > $ > > If $PAGER isn't set, then you can't very well use it as you > describe, can you? > > 'Course, you can use the sensible-pager command this way. And > sensible-pager does expect that $PAGER, if set, can take file names > as appended arguments. So I guess your use cases do model the > defacto policy for use of $PAGER.
The discussion here is about what the expectation are for the contents of #PAGER, if it exists, not how to correctly use $PAGER. You are throwing red herrings and derailing the discussion, please stop it. Specifically, the issue started as how to use vim as PAGER, and lead to what the semantics of the PAGER were. What to do when PAGER does not exist are orthogonal. My statements attempt to provide an expectation of the use cases a PAGER variable setting ought to be able to implement. It is relevant to deciding how to set $PAGER, your mail adds nothing to the topic. If you truly want to discuss how to actually use $PAGER correctly, start your own topic, and don't hijack this thread. manoj -- I like your SNOOPY POSTER!! Manoj Srivastava <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/> 1024D/BF24424C print 4966 F272 D093 B493 410B 924B 21BA DABB BF24 424C -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]