rk@unify.UUCP (Ron Kuris) (05/12/89)
When running the csh, I typed only two backquotes (``) and got: /s2/acct/rk/bin/: cannot execute My path was: /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/ucb:/s2/acct/rk/bin:/s/rk/rel/bin When I removed /s2/acct/rk/bin from my path, the error changes to: : cannot execute What gives? I tried nifty things like: ``file which runs /s2/acct/rk/bin/file. Then I tried: echo `` and got nothing. Seems real bizzare. Any explanations? Send E-mail and I'll summarize. -- Ron Kuris (916) 920-9092 rk@unify.UUCP {{ucdavis,csun,lll-crg}!csusac,pyramid,sequent}!unify!rk
spolsky-joel@CS.YALE.EDU (Joel Spolsky) (05/12/89)
In article <779@unify.UUCP> rk@unify.UUCP (Ron Kuris) writes: >When running the csh, I typed only two backquotes (``) and got: >/s2/acct/rk/bin/: cannot execute > csh looks for the command "" (null string). "/s2/acct/rk/bin/" is in the path and it tries to concatenate "" onto the end of this, getting "/s2/acct/rk/bin/" ... which exists, so it doesn't have to look further. But it can't execute it. So it complains. You would get the same result by just typing any directory name. >When I removed /s2/acct/rk/bin from my path, the error changes to: >: cannot execute It is looking for the command "" (null string) in your current directory and not finding it. >What gives? I tried nifty things like: ``file >which runs /s2/acct/rk/bin/file. >Then I tried: echo `` >and got nothing. Seems real bizzare. Any explanations? Because the command `` doesn't generate any output (it fails to run), it is inline substituted with nothing so "``file" resolves to "file". Some naive guesses from... +----------------+----------------------------------------------------------+ | Joel Spolsky | bitnet: spolsky@yalecs.bitnet uucp: ...!yale!spolsky | | | internet: spolsky@cs.yale.edu voicenet: 203-436-1483 | +----------------+----------------------------------------------------------+ #include <disclaimer.h>