GNU bug report logs - #32774
Filenames with spaces in ls

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ivan Perez <ivan.perez <at> keera.co.uk>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: Filenames with spaces in ls
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2018 15:01:44 -0400

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi,

In a fresh Ubuntu installation, file names with spaces and strange 
symbols are now quoted.

If find this annoying, non-intuitive and, in principle, wrong (I'll 
explain below).

I initially wrote this email a few weeks ago, and decided not to send it 
without honestly giving it a real try. Since it's been over a month now, 
I've decided to send it.

I understand that this is configurable for ls, but that means, every 
time or every user needs to do this. It is difficult to understand how 
many people are for or against. There's always a couple of people in 
favour of it in the mailing list, and a lot against (but I acknowledge 
that that may not reflect the true proportion).

The new behaviour can be annoying, and can make it harder to process 
information quickly. This may be a matter of preference, but the 
presence of the extra quote and the misalignment that that causes draws 
one's attention to the quote. File names with similar but related names 
no longer appear aligned in ls which, again, draws attention to the 
quote when one is processing long lists of files. It also makes names 
with quotes pretty hard to understand.

I have read about the reasons *for* doing this. While the new behaviour 
helps copy & paste, it's counter intuitive, because the symbol is not 
part of the name (but it could be).

Ultimately, the rationale could be simpler: the quote symbol is *just 
not there in the file name*.

Please, make literal the default for ls (and any other program that may 
be affected by this).

All the best,

Ivan

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #8 received at 32774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Ivan Perez <ivan.perez <at> keera.co.uk>, 32774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#32774: Filenames with spaces in ls
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2018 12:46:01 -0700

Ivan Perez wrote:
> the presence of the extra quote and the misalignment that that causes draws 
> one's attention to the quote.
That's part of the intent. The quotes draw the reader's attention to the oddball 
file name, which is a good thing since these file names can cause trouble when 
they are cut and pasted from 'ls' output.

> File names with similar but related names no longer appear aligned in ls

That depends on what one means by 'appear aligned'. In this 'ls -l' output:

-rw-rw-r--. 1 eggert eggert 0 Sep 19 12:39  a
-rw-rw-r--. 1 eggert eggert 0 Sep 19 12:39 'a b'
-rw-rw-r--. 1 eggert eggert 0 Sep 19 12:39  a-b

all three file names are aligned to start at the same screen column; there's a 
column of 'a's that line up, and the quotes are not part of the quoted file 
name. I prefer having file names aligned like that, and wouldn't favor aligning 
the opening quote to be equal to the unquoted files' initial 'a's. Admittedly 
preferences differ, but alignment is not really the issue here; it's the quotes 
that people are largely objecting to.

Message #11 received at 32774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Assaf Gordon <assafgordon <at> gmail.com>
To: Ivan Perez <ivan.perez <at> keera.co.uk>, 32774 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#32774: Filenames with spaces in ls
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2018 21:58:46 -0600

tags 32774 notabug
close 32774
stop

On 2018-09-19 1:46 p.m., Paul Eggert wrote:
> Ivan Perez wrote:
>> the presence of the extra quote and the misalignment that that causes 
>> draws one's attention to the quote.

> That's part of the intent. The quotes draw the reader's attention to the 
> oddball file name, which is a good thing since these file names can 
> cause trouble when they are cut and pasted from 'ls' output.
> 

Given the above, I'm closing this bug.

-assaf

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