Re: Issues when func name is the same with an alias

[Bernd Eggink]

Am 04.08.2010 16:38, schrieb Clark J. Wang:
> On Wed, Aug 4, 2010 at 8:27 PM, Bernd Eggink<monoped@sudrala.de>  wrote:
>
> > Am 04.08.2010 12:39, schrieb Clark J. Wang:
> >
> >   I was testing the precedence between functions and aliases so I tried like
> > > this (with bash 4.1.5):
> > >
> > > $ cat rc
> > > alias foo='echo this is the alias'
> > >
> > > foo()
> > > {
> > >      builtin echo 'this is the function'
> > > }
> > >
> > > foo
> > > $ source rc
> > > bash: confusing-aliases-2.sh: line 4: syntax error near unexpected token
> > > `('
> > > bash: confusing-aliases-2.sh: line 4: `foo()'
> > > $
> > >
> > > Seems like I must explicitly use the `function' keyword to define foo()
> > > for
> > > this scenario. Is that the correct behavior?
> >
> > The man page says "The first word of a simple command, if unquoted, is
> > checked to see if has an alias". Therefore 'foo' in your function
> > declaration is replaced by 'echo this is the alias'. Unfortunately, you
> > can't quote the function name in the declaration, so you have to either use
> > 'function' or say "unalias foo" first.
> Function definitions are not simple commands. Actually, func definition
> syntax is listed under the *Compound Commands* section in bash2.05b's man
> page and in bash3+ it's been moved to a separate section.

The function *body* as part of the definition is a compound command. The 
definition as a whole constitutes a simple comand. You can see that 
function definitions are not listed under "compound commands", but 
adhere to the definition of simple commands:

"A  simple  command is a sequence of optional variable assignments 
followed by blank-separated words and redirections, and terminated by a 
control operator."

Some lines above '(' is listed as a control operator.

The only questionable term is "...a sequence of optional variable 
assignments followed by...", as it appears that variable assignments are 
not allowed before a function definition.

I suppose that is just a documentation issue. Can anybody comment on this?

Regards,
Bernd

--
Bernd Eggink
http://sudrala.de