(libc.info.gz) Word Expansion

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 10.4 Shell-Style Word Expansion
 ===============================
 
 "Word expansion" means the process of splitting a string into "words"
 and substituting for variables, commands, and wildcards just as the
 shell does.
 
    For example, when you write 'ls -l foo.c', this string is split into
 three separate words--'ls', '-l' and 'foo.c'.  This is the most basic
 function of word expansion.
 
    When you write 'ls *.c', this can become many words, because the word
 '*.c' can be replaced with any number of file names.  This is called
 "wildcard expansion", and it is also a part of word expansion.
 
    When you use 'echo $PATH' to print your path, you are taking
 advantage of "variable substitution", which is also part of word
 expansion.
 
    Ordinary programs can perform word expansion just like the shell by
 calling the library function 'wordexp'.
 

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* Expansion Stages            What word expansion does to a string.
* Calling Wordexp             How to call 'wordexp'.
* Flags for Wordexp           Options you can enable in 'wordexp'.
* Wordexp Example             A sample program that does word expansion.
* Tilde Expansion             Details of how tilde expansion works.
* Variable Substitution       Different types of variable substitution.
 
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