Re: Why if test "xSTRING1= "xSTRING2" (the 'x') ?

[Jules Colding]

On Mon, 2007-03-26 at 07:18 -0600, Eric Blake wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
> 
> According to Jules Colding on 3/26/2007 7:10 AM:
> > if test "xSTRING1" = "xSTRING2"; then 
> > else
> > fi
> > 
> > Probably something entirely fundamental that I just forgot...
> 
> Portability.  Suppose STRING1 is '(' and STRING2 is ')'.  Then 'test "x("
> = "x)"' is false, while 'test ( = )' is true.  See also the manual:
> http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/html_node/Limitations-of-Builtins.html#Limitations-of-Builtins

Ah, yes. Makes perfectly sense now.

Thanks a lot,
  jules