From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG  Fri Jan  7 04:39:41 2005
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9377316A4CE
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Fri,  7 Jan 2005 04:39:41 +0000 (GMT)
Received: from whisk.dreamhost.com (whisk.dreamhost.com [205.196.208.4])
	by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7442343D48
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Fri,  7 Jan 2005 04:39:41 +0000 (GMT)
	(envelope-from lists@tntluoma.com)
Received: from [192.168.2.102] (user-33qt99b.dialup.mindspring.com
	[199.174.165.43])	by whisk.dreamhost.com (Postfix) with ESMTP
	id 8EB20175108; Thu,  6 Jan 2005 20:39:39 -0800 (PST)
In-Reply-To: <41DE096C.3060903@vilot.com>
References: <06DDB71C-5DB4-11D9-B56F-000D9333E43C@secure-computing.net>
	<8B357427-5DB7-11D9-89A5-000D93AD26C8@tntluoma.com>
	<Pine.NEB.4.61.9.0501041028340.407@kenmore.kozy-kabin.nl>
	<7B531D49-6041-11D9-8A15-000D9333E43C@secure-computing.net>
	<41DDE5C5.2050402@vilot.com>
	<1F964093-6051-11D9-90DC-000D9333E43C@secure-computing.net>
	<41DE096C.3060903@vilot.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v619)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
Message-Id: <248793A4-6066-11D9-8BE8-000D93AD26C8@tntluoma.com>
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
From: Timothy Luoma <lists@tntluoma.com>
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2005 23:39:39 -0500
To: Eric F Crist <ecrist@secure-computing.net>
X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.619)
cc: FreeBSD-Questions Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Subject: Re: my lame attempt at a shell script...
X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1
Precedence: list
List-Id: User questions <freebsd-questions.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>,
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>,
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2005 04:39:41 -0000


On Jan 6, 2005, at 11:00 PM, Tom Vilot wrote:

> Eric F Crist wrote:
>
>> What is the point of the { } around some variables?
>
> It's not strictly necessary, except in some cases. i.e:
>
> m=34
> echo $m
> You don't need it there.
> But you would want it here:
> f=/var/filename
> fname=${f//name/name2}
>
> It's when you need to differentiate the variable name from operations 
> around it ... for want of a better explanation

a good explanation.  When I'm being particularly fussy about a script, 
I'll use echo "${m}" just in case $m has some unexpected characters in 
it such as a space ! $ * etc which can really screw things up.

TjL