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Diffstat (limited to 'doc/gawktexi.in')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/gawktexi.in | 14 |
1 files changed, 12 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/doc/gawktexi.in b/doc/gawktexi.in index 7826a1bc..3548720b 100644 --- a/doc/gawktexi.in +++ b/doc/gawktexi.in @@ -7887,10 +7887,20 @@ as the result of a special feature. When @code{RS} is set to the empty string @emph{and} @code{FS} is set to a single character, the newline character @emph{always} acts as a field separator. This is in addition to whatever field separations result from -@code{FS}.@footnote{When @code{FS} is the null string (@code{""}) +@code{FS}. + +@quotation NOTE +When @code{FS} is the null string (@code{""}) or a regexp, this special feature of @code{RS} does not apply. It does apply to the default field separator of a single space: -@samp{FS = @w{" "}}.} +@samp{FS = @w{" "}}. + +Note that language in the POSIX specification implies that +this special feature should apply when @code{FS} is a regexp. +However, Unix @command{awk} has never behaved that way, nor has +@command{gawk}. This is essentially a bug in POSIX. +@c Noted as of 4/2019; working to get the standard fixed. +@end NOTE The original motivation for this special exception was probably to provide useful behavior in the default case (i.e., @code{FS} is equal |