Re: Bash string substitution bug (?)

[Chet Ramey]

Bernd Eggink wrote:
> >       prompt: CLUSTER='1 2'; echo ${CLUSTER/${HOSTNAME/.*}}
> >       output:             -bash: ${HOSTNAME: bad substitution
>
> Apparently bash interprets this as  ${parameter/pattern/string}
> where pattern = ${HOSTNAME. Looks like a bug; it works in ksh.

That is, in fact, what is happening.  I'm not sure you can call it
a bug, though -- bash is behaving exactly as documented.  The fact
that Korn chose to implement it a certain way in ksh and not document
the implementation doesn't help compatibility, but the public
specification of the feature is the same between both shells.

Chet

--
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
                       Live Strong.  No day but today.
Chet Ramey, ITS, CWRU    chet@case.edu    http://cnswww.cns.cwru.edu/~chet/