procmail
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Re: $= in action lines

1998-10-01 12:54:57
On 1 October 1998, David W. Tamkin <dattier(_at_)Mcs(_dot_)Net> wrote:
[...]
2. Sometimes the action line isn't simply like that, and it also
contains a character from $SHELLMETAS.  (No, Dr. Daia, this is not
properly documented as far as I know.)
[...]

    Sure, I'll bite.  Well, I guess this depends on what you mean by
"proper".  Searching for SHELLMETAS through procmailrc man page gives:

:       |      Starts the specified program, possibly in $SHELL if
:              any of the characters $SHELLMETAS are spotted.
[...]

:       SHELLMETAS            &|<>~;?*[
[...]

:       SHELLMETAS  If any of the characters in SHELLMETAS appears
:                   in the line specifying a  filter  or  program,
:                   the  line  will  be  fed  to $SHELL instead of
:                   being executed directly.
[...]

:CAVEATS
:       Continued lines in an action line that specifies a program
:       always have to end in a backslash, even if the  underlying
:       shell  would  not  need  or want the backslash to indicate
:       continuation.  This is due to the two pass parsing process
:       needed  (first procmail, then the shell (or not, depending
:       on SHELLMETAS)).
[...]

:       The leading `|' on the action line to specify a program or
:       filter is stripped before checking for $SHELLMETAS.

    AFAICT, this is far better documented than most of the other
features. :-)

    Nitpicky as ever,

    Liviu

-- 
Dr. Liviu Daia                   e-mail:   daia(_at_)stoilow(_dot_)imar(_dot_)ro
Institute of Mathematics         web page: http://www.imar.ro/~daia
of the Romanian Academy          PGP key:  finger 
daia(_at_)stoilow(_dot_)imar(_dot_)ro

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