Subject: Re: bug#23422: stat -c %N returns strange results for file names including <TAB>

From: Pádraig Brady <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 May 2016 09:23:00 +0100

On 04/05/16 22:59, Andreas Schwab wrote:
> Ruediger Meier <[email-masked]> writes:
>
>> On Wednesday 04 May 2016, Andreas Schwab wrote:
>>> Ruediger Meier <[email-masked]> writes:
>>>> Anyways the incompatible change is IMO not acceptable. %N is
>>>> probably most likely used in scripts which rely on the known style.
>                                                              ^^^^^^^^^^^
>>>
>>> The style was never documented (and still isn't).
>>
>> What does this mean? Using %N wasn't and still isn't recommended because
>> behavior is undefined? Come on ...

Both points are valid.
%N had a defacto style on Linux until now, but it was not documented.
%N is not a standard style as it produces unquoted output on BSD for example.

For the next version of coreutils we'll document the default format
and allow selection of the quoting style used.

thanks,
Pádraig.