GNU bug report logs - #9346
wc does not conform to POSIX (additional spaces)

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
Cc: tracker <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#9346: closed (wc does not conform to POSIX (additional spaces))
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 01:11:02 +0000

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Your message dated Tue, 23 Aug 2011 02:07:59 +0100
with message-id <4E52FD6F.1050808 <at> draigBrady.com>
and subject line Re: bug#9346: wc does not conform to POSIX (additional spaces)
has caused the GNU bug report #9346,
regarding wc does not conform to POSIX (additional spaces)
to be marked as done.

(If you believe you have received this mail in error, please contact
help-debbugs <at> gnu.org.)


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From: Vincent Lefevre <vincent <at> vinc17.net>
To: bug-coreutils <at> gnu.org
Subject: wc does not conform to POSIX (additional spaces)
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 02:39:09 +0200

http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/wc.html
says:

  STDOUT

    By default, the standard output shall contain an entry for each
    input file of the form:

    "%d %d %d %s\n", <newlines>, <words>, <bytes>, <file>

But wc from GNU coreutils 8.12 adds spaces:

$ echo | wc
      1       0       1

Setting POSIXLY_CORRECT=1 doesn't even have any effect here.

-- 
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent <at> vinc17.net> - Web: <http://www.vinc17.net/>
100% accessible validated (X)HTML - Blog: <http://www.vinc17.net/blog/>
Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / Arénaire project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)

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From: Pádraig Brady <P <at> draigBrady.com>
To: Vincent Lefevre <vincent <at> vinc17.net>, 9346-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#9346: wc does not conform to POSIX (additional spaces)
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 02:07:59 +0100

tags 9346 + notabug

On 08/23/2011 01:39 AM, Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/wc.html
> says:
> 
>   STDOUT
> 
>     By default, the standard output shall contain an entry for each
>     input file of the form:
> 
>     "%d %d %d %s\n", <newlines>, <words>, <bytes>, <file>
> 
> But wc from GNU coreutils 8.12 adds spaces:
> 
> $ echo | wc
>       1       0       1
> 
> Setting POSIXLY_CORRECT=1 doesn't even have any effect here.
> 

POSIX refers to the printf format above as a pseudo-printf format,
to contrast with the format used in SYS V of "%7d%7d%7d %s\n".
Notice the lack of spaces there, hence problems with big numbers.
So I take the POSIX printf format you referenced, just to ensure
at least 1 space is guaranteed between counts.
Also for any kind of portability, one will need to deal with
a variable number of spaces.
GNU wc uses a dynamic width (try it on a small file),
while also ensuring at least 1 space is present.

cheers,
Pádraig.

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