[bugs #10771] Primary -exec lacks support for POSIX idiom "{}+" (the plus sign)

[James Youngman]

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/**************************************************************************/
[bugs #10771] Latest Modifications:

Changes by: 
                James Youngman <address@hidden>
'Date: 
                Sun 12/05/04 at 17:22 (GMT)

            What     | Removed                   | Added
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Fixed Release | 4.2.0                     | None







/**************************************************************************/
[bugs #10771] Full Item Snapshot:

URL: <http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?func=detailitem&item_id=10771>
Project: findutils
Submitted by: James Youngman
On: Fri 10/22/04 at 19:14

Category:  find
Severity:  1 - None
Item Group:  None
Resolution:  None
Privacy:  Public
Assigned to:  jay
Originator Name:  
Originator Email:  address@hidden
Status:  Open
Release:  4.2.1
Fixed Release:  None


Summary:  Primary -exec lacks support for POSIX idiom "{}+" (the plus sign)

Original Submission:  From 
http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/utilities/find.html


-exec  utility_name  [argument ...]   {} +
    The end of the primary expression shall be punctuated by a semicolon or by 
a plus sign. Only a plus sign that follows an argument containing the two 
characters "{}" shall punctuate the end of the primary expression. Other uses 
of the plus sign shall not be treated as special.

    If the primary expression is punctuated by a semicolon, the utility 
utility_name shall be invoked once for each pathname and the primary shall 
evaluate as true if the utility returns a zero value as exit status. A 
utility_name or argument containing only the two characters "{}" shall be 
replaced by the current pathname.

    If the primary expression is punctuated by a plus sign, the primary shall 
always evaluate as true, and the pathnames for which the primary is evaluated 
shall be aggregated into sets. The utility utility_name shall be invoked once 
for each set of aggregated pathnames. Each invocation shall begin after the 
last pathname in the set is aggregated, and shall be completed before the find 
utility exits and before the first pathname in the next set (if any) is 
aggregated for this primary, but it is otherwise unspecified whether the 
invocation occurs before, during, or after the evaluations of other primaries. 
If any invocation returns a non-zero value as exit status, the find utility 
shall return a non-zero exit status. An argument containing only the two 
characters "{}" shall be replaced by the set of aggregated pathnames, with each 
pathname passed as a separate argument to the invoked utility in the same order 
that it was aggregated. The size of any set of two or
more pathnames shall be limited such that execution of the utility does not 
cause the system's {ARG_MAX} limit to be exceeded. If more than one argument 
containing only the two characters "{}" is present, the behavior is unspecified.

    If a utility_name or argument string contains the two characters "{}", but 
not just the two characters "{}", it is implementation-defined whether find 
replaces those two characters or uses the string without change. The current 
directory for the invocation of utility_name shall be the same as the current 
directory when the find utility was started. If the utility_name names any of 
the special built-in utilities (see Special Built-In Utilities), the results 
are undefined.


Follow-up Comments
------------------


-------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri 10/22/04 at 19:47         By: James Youngman <jay>
For the moment the documentation has been updated to indicate that this variant 
is not supported.












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