On Sun, Dec 11, 2022 at 08:06:24PM -0500, Rob Whitlock wrote:
> On line 408, fw_update has the expression ${LOCALSRC:#file:}. The parameter
> substitution ${name:#word} is not documented in the manual page for ksh yet
> its behavior seems to be equivalent to ${LOCALSRC#file:}. Assuming this is
> a typo, a patch is provided to remove the colon. If it is not a typo, could
> someone explain what this syntax does?
>
> Is this was a typo however, and this parameter substitution is not
> officially supported, why did ksh not complain?
I would guess syntax ${name:#word} is akin to other colon substitutions
${name:-word}, ${name:=word}, ${name:+word}, ${name:?word} although
it is not documented.
${name:%word} works too (and is not documented either)
And actually man page says that colon can be omitted from :- := :+ :?
which hints that # and % are treated as substitutions with omitted colon.
I wonder if we would rather update man page of ksh.
-Kastus
