Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2026 12:22:39 +1100
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Subject: Re: Parsing a file name with spaces
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From: dxf <dxforth@gmail.com>
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On 31/03/2026 6:36 pm, Anton Ertl wrote:
> dxf <dxforth@gmail.com> writes:
>> When dealing with command-line OS of times past, it was commonplace to enter
>> commands in the form:
>>
>>  rename oldfilename newfilename
>>
>> For convenience I wanted to duplicate this familiar setup in forth - hence the
>> addition of INCLUDE RENAME DELETE etc.
> 
> Gforth and VFX64 provide SH and SwiftForth includes $; these words
> pass the rest of the line to the shell, so you can the use OS
> commands, with the filename given in the syntax of the shell, and use
> the shell syntax for comments.  E.g., with Gforth invoking bash with
> Unix commands:
> 
> sh echo test >sane-file-name
> sh mv sane-file-name insane\ file\ name # mv (as in "move") renames
> sh cat "insane file name"               # prints "test"
> sh rm 'insane file name'                # rm (as in "remove") deletes

It's not a solution under MS-DOS (lots of buffers and code) nor under CP/M
where AFAIK shelling is impossible.

>> Critically these words will be parsing
>> *filenames* which are going to be OS-specific.
> 
> And the cool thing is, with SH all the shell-specific syntax for file
> names works; three different ways of specifying "insane file name" in
> bash were shown in the example above.
> 
>> I see no point to having INCLUDE et al if I'm told I can use
>> INCLUDED RENAME-FILE DELETE-FILE etc instead.
> 
> No programmer is required to use INCLUDE, and no system is required to
> implement INCLUDE.  INCLUDE is an optional word in the FILE EXT
> extension in Forth-2012.  If you see no point, just don't use it and
> don't implement it.

What is the point - according to you since the standard never explains?