Re: alternative method for a simple for

[Peter Stephenson <pws@xxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:33:18 +0200
Sebastian Stark <seb-zsh@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> ALTERNATE FORMS FOR COMPLEX COMMANDS
>         Many of zshâs complex commands have alternate forms.  These  
> particular versions of complex commands should  be  conâ
>         sidered  deprecated  and  may  be  removed  in the future.   
> The versions in the previous section should be preferred
>         instead.

This has understandably caused quite a lot of confusion.  There are good
reasons to avoid using the alternative forms, but actually there are no
plans to take them out and haven't been since I took over almost ten years
ago now(!)  It's probably better to change this, though I'd certainly like
people to think before using the non-standard forms.

Index: Doc/Zsh/grammar.yo
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/zsh/zsh/Doc/Zsh/grammar.yo,v
retrieving revision 1.16
diff -u -r1.16 grammar.yo
--- Doc/Zsh/grammar.yo	10 Jun 2008 08:50:43 -0000	1.16
+++ Doc/Zsh/grammar.yo	15 Sep 2009 11:54:40 -0000
@@ -366,10 +366,10 @@
 sect(Alternate Forms For Complex Commands)
 cindex(alternate forms for complex commands)
 cindex(commands, alternate forms for complex)
-Many of zsh's complex commands have alternate forms.  These particular
-versions of complex commands should be considered deprecated and may be
-removed in the future.  The versions in the previous section should be
-preferred instead.
+Many of zsh's complex commands have alternate forms.  These are
+non-standard and are likely not to be obvious even to seasoned shell
+programmers; they should not be used anywhere that portability is a
+concern.
 
 The short versions below only work if var(sublist) is of the form `tt({)
 var(list) tt(})' or if the tt(SHORT_LOOPS) option is set.  For the tt(if),


-- 
Peter Stephenson <pws@xxxxxxx>            Software Engineer
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