From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Mar 3 05:01:05 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D5AE9F66 for ; Sun, 3 Mar 2013 05:01:05 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from perryh@pluto.rain.com) Received: from agora.rdrop.com (agora.rdrop.com [IPv6:2607:f678:1010::34]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AED683A5 for ; Sun, 3 Mar 2013 05:01:05 +0000 (UTC) Received: from agora.rdrop.com (66@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by agora.rdrop.com (8.13.1/8.12.7) with ESMTP id r23514el080366 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Sat, 2 Mar 2013 21:01:04 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from perryh@pluto.rain.com) Received: (from uucp@localhost) by agora.rdrop.com (8.13.1/8.14.2/Submit) with UUCP id r235146u080365; Sat, 2 Mar 2013 21:01:04 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from perryh@pluto.rain.com) Received: from fbsd81 ([192.168.200.81]) by pluto.rain.com (4.1/SMI-4.1-pluto-M2060407) id AA18056; Sat, 2 Mar 13 20:53:49 PST Date: Sat, 02 Mar 2013 20:53:44 -0800 From: perryh@pluto.rain.com (Perry Hutchison) To: jrisom@gmail.com Subject: Re: rm -R Message-Id: <5132c948.kFZOe3OEy+VGm3JP%perryh@pluto.rain.com> References: <51321FAE.2010803@webrz.net> <13CA24D6AB415D428143D44749F57D7201EBE870@ltcfiswmsgmb21> <5132AAD6.5060301@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <5132AAD6.5060301@gmail.com> User-Agent: nail 11.25 7/29/05 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 03 Mar 2013 05:01:05 -0000 Joshua Isom wrote: > But google and other search engines treats words([A-Za-z0-9]) > starting with - as meaning exclude results with this, even when > obvious it's about unix commands. It can be rather annoying > when searching for help. This comment suggests a new translation of GNU: Google's Not Unix (although it may well be _hosted on_ a Unix variant). Absent some very advanced AI, nothing is "obvious" to a computer :) The "-" character means different things in different environments. When you know what command is needed, the manpage is usually the best reference. Save the search engines for when you _don't_ know which command to use -- and even then you probably should try "man -k" or "apropos" first.