On Sun, Nov 05, 2023 at 11:17:02AM +0000, RVP wrote: > > Oh, I like the idea (I've always wanted a mechanism to list drivers > etc. using patterns); it's just the syntax that sticks in the craw. > Too many meta-chars. there. > > OTOH, `cmd -p xyz* *abc' doesn't need much thought. And, aliases > are pretty standard too. But, this is your show, n'est pas...? > Don't let me stop you!
I like this more: flags introduced by '-' since if a flag is not a number there is no ambiguity with negative numbers (allowed for the more builtin facility). So -p would mean pattern, -g use groups instead of driver name and -pg apply a pattern to group names and even -s meaning STARred (-pgs, letters in whatever order, meaning apply a pattern to group names for STARred devices)... And without flags, this is the present syntax untouched. This will address too the legitimate concern of Staffan Thomén about keyboard mapping: this adds less characters, and not special ones. For variables, I will refrain for the moment because this will impose to add a fraction of a page (1/4, 1/2 or 1/1) as scratch "memory" to allocate and a simple allocation scheme (a la Unix version 6 for example: see Lion's Commentary) in order to not allocate with kernel facilities. Not difficult, not adding much but if not necessary... -- Thierry Laronde <tlaronde +AT+ kergis +dot+ com> http://www.kergis.com/ http://kertex.kergis.com/ Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89 250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C