feg@clyde.ATT.COM (Forrest Gehrke) (06/08/88)
The corrected mv command with picnix3 still has a
small problem: If you should happen to request a
move of a file to a non-existent directory, it
"moves" it and deletes it from the source
directory---all silently.
I did this accidentally, misspelling the name of
an existent directory. The file disappeared.
BTW, the MKS mv command does the same trick.
Forrest Gehrkeboneill@hawk.ulowell.edu (SoftXc Coordinator) (06/08/88)
In article <27734@clyde.ATT.COM> feg@clyde.ATT.COM (Forrest Gehrke) writes: >The corrected mv command with picnix3 still has a >small problem: If you should happen to request a >move of a file to a non-existent directory, it >"moves" it and deletes it from the source >directory---all silently. > >I did this accidentally, misspelling the name of >an existent directory. The file disappeared. > I was unable to recreate this problem. When you give the command 'mv name1 name2', it checks for the existence of name2. If it does not exist, name1 is renamed to name2. If it does exist, and it is a directory, the file is given the name name2\name1. When you mispelled the name of the directory, it should have created a file with the name you typed. If you gave a complete pathname, and mispelled one of the subdirectories, MV would have given you a 'CANNOT CREATE error'. ============================================================================ Brian O'Neill, MS-DOS Software Exchange Coordinator ArpaNet: boneill@hawk.ulowell.edu UUCP : {(backbones),harvard,rutgers,et. al.}!ulowell!hawk!boneill
feg@clyde.ATT.COM (Forrest Gehrke) (06/10/88)
In article <7449@swan.ulowell.edu>, boneill@hawk.ulowell.edu (SoftXc Coordinator) writes: > In article <27734@clyde.ATT.COM> feg@clyde.ATT.COM (Forrest Gehrke) writes: > >The corrected mv command with picnix3 still has a > >small problem: If you should happen to request a > >move of a file to a non-existent directory, it > >"moves" it and deletes it from the source > >directory---all silently. > > > >I did this accidentally, misspelling the name of > >an existent directory. The file disappeared. > > > > I was unable to recreate this problem. When you give the command 'mv name1 > name2', it checks for the existence of name2. If it does not exist, name1 is > renamed to name2. If it does exist, and it is a directory, the file is given > the name name2\name1. When you mispelled the name of the directory, it > should have created a file with the name you typed. If you gave a complete > pathname, and mispelled one of the subdirectories, MV would have given you a > 'CANNOT CREATE error'. This is true but ONLY if (as you say) you provided a COMPLETE pathname: mv name1 /boguspath/<filename> If a destination filename is NOT provided on the command line for the case of a non-existent destination directory, the "cannot create" message is not displayed. The command silently treats the last directory name as the destination filename (ignoring an ending backslash) and the file is moved to the directory appearing next. If that is the backslash, then it appears in the root directory. (I was wrong about the file disappearing). This is not exactly Unix-like, which only requires the directory path if the filename is not to be changed. Forrest Gehrke
toma@tekgvs.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) (06/10/88)
In article <7449@swan.ulowell.edu> boneill@hawk.ulowell.edu (SoftXc Coordinator) writes: >In article <27734@clyde.ATT.COM> feg@clyde.ATT.COM (Forrest Gehrke) writes: >>[...] If you should happen to request a >>move of a file to a non-existent directory, it >>"moves" it and deletes it from the source >>directory---all silently. > >I was unable to recreate this problem. Well, I was able. I don't use PICNIX mv (I use a MetaWare version), but I tried it with PICNIX cp, the new "corrected" version: cp file \foo\bar where directory \foo does not exist, causes a copy of the file to be made in the *current* directory, called "foobar". Not too nice. Tom Almy toma@tekgvs.TEK.COM
rivers@xyzzy.UUCP (Dave Rivers) (06/14/88)
In article <3563@tekgvs.TEK.COM> toma@tekgvs.UUCP (Tom Almy) writes: >In article <7449@swan.ulowell.edu> boneill@hawk.ulowell.edu (SoftXc Coordinator) writes: >>In article <27734@clyde.ATT.COM> feg@clyde.ATT.COM (Forrest Gehrke) writes: >>>[...] If you should happen to request a >>>move of a file to a non-existent directory, it >>>"moves" it and deletes it from the source >>>directory---all silently. >> >>I was unable to recreate this problem. > >Well, I was able. I don't use PICNIX mv (I use a MetaWare version), but I >tried it with PICNIX cp, the new "corrected" version: > >cp file \foo\bar > >where directory \foo does not exist, causes a copy of the file to be made in >the *current* directory, called "foobar". Not too nice. > >Tom Almy >toma@tekgvs.TEK.COM > If you have set the swithchar to a forward slash (ala UNIX) then, as per unix definitions, the backslash becomes the escape char, not the escape key on your keyboard, but rather a character which indicates that the next character is to be taken literally. Certain characters following the backslash have particular meanings - for example \n indicates new-line (as with 'C'). If the character is not one of those signalled out, the backslash has no effect, and is simply "removed" from the line. (If I may be so loose in my description) So, your command: cp file \foo\bar becomes cp file foobar since \f and \b mean nothing. If you really wanted to try out the copy, do it this way: cp file /foo/bar - Dave Rivers -- +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Time Sharing is the use of | Dave Rivers: | | many people by the computer. | UUCP {Backbones}!rti!dg-rtp!rivers | | | Phone: (919) 248-6137 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+