GNU bug report logs -
#13295
Possible bug - tr utility
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Reported by: "Killen, Randy" <rkillen <at> frk.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2012 19:18:02 UTC
Severity: normal
Done: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.
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Message #8 received at 13295 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):
Hi Randy,
On 12/28/2012 06:37 PM, Killen, Randy wrote:
> Hello -
>
> I encountered the situation shown below so thought that I would report it to see if it might be a bug or is expected behavior. Please let me know if you need additional information.
>
> Randy
>
>
> $
> $ echo something | tr [:lower:] [:upper:]
> SOMETHING
> $ echo something | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]'
> SOMETHING
> $
> $ touch l
> $ echo something | tr [:lower:] [:upper:]
> tr: misaligned [:upper:] and/or [:lower:] construct
> $ echo something | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]'
> SOMETHING
> $ rm l
> $
> $ touch u
> $ echo something | tr [:lower:] [:upper:]
> tr: misaligned [:upper:] and/or [:lower:] construct
> $ echo something | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]'
> SOMETHING
> $ rm u
> $
> $ touch l
> $ touch u
> $ echo something | tr [:lower:] [:upper:]
> something
> $ echo something | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]'
> SOMETHING
> $ rm l
> $ rm u
This is expected behavior, caused by lack of quoting that results in the
shell (Bash) interpreting [...] as a wildcard pattern for file name
globbing (see glob(7)). If the 'nullglob' option of the shell is
disabled (use 'shopt nullglob' to display the current setting), a
wildcard that matches no files is kept as is. Thus the wildcards
[:lower:] and [:upper:] are either replaced by l resp. u if one of those
files exist or kept, if no matching file exists.
Quoting the special characters '[' and ']' by using '[:lower:]' resp.
'[:upper:]' (including the quotes) inhibits the shell from interpreting
them as file globbing wildcards. Therefore, you should always quote
character classes that are meant as arguments to a program.
HTH
Erik
This bug report was last modified 12 years and 151 days ago.
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