Re: bin/57252: wc

[Robert Elz <kre%munnari.OZ.AU@localhost>]

    Date:        Thu,  2 Mar 2023 12:05:01 +0000 (UTC)
    From:        RVP <rvp%SDF.ORG@localhost>
    Message-ID:  <20230302120501.3D8491A923B%mollari.NetBSD.org@localhost>

  |  Following POSIX strictly then results in an ugly display, right?

Wrong.

What I didn't quote last time, because then it wasn't material, was
the interpretation of %d in this (modified for use in the standard doc
only) version of printf...

    The conversion specifiers and their meanings are:
[...]
    d,i,o,u,x,X The integer argument shall be written as [...]

		[we all know what they mean I expect -- it goes on
		 to explain how the precision field (if given) works
		 - irrelevant here, and then:]

	If both the field width and precision are omitted [that's us],
	the implementation may precede, follow, or precede and follow
	numeric arguments of types d, i, and u with <blank> characters;
	arguments of type o (octal) may be preceded with leading zeros.

Our wc is 100% conformant to the standard.   If someone wants to make it
omit the spaces in the case there is only one field, and only one file
is being counted (don't drop them with more than one file, or the columns
won't line up, that would be ugly), then by all means go ahead.   But there
is nothing anywhere which requires that.

Any number of space or tab chars, before or after, any of those integers.

If you want to write any kind of portable script, you MUST deal with that.

The only other (relevant to this) POSIX requirement is this one:

	If no input file operands are specified, no name shall be written
	and no <blank> characters preceding the pathname shall be written.

That is, in that one case, no white space is permitted after the last
integer output, the final digit of that value must immediately precede
the newline.

kre