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Diffstat (limited to 'doc/gawk.texi')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/gawk.texi | 20 |
1 files changed, 11 insertions, 9 deletions
diff --git a/doc/gawk.texi b/doc/gawk.texi index cfb40b6a..30826891 100644 --- a/doc/gawk.texi +++ b/doc/gawk.texi @@ -18380,17 +18380,19 @@ When @option{--sandbox} is specified, the @code{system()} function is disabled On POSIX systems, a command's exit status is a 16-bit number. The exit value passed to the C @code{exit()} function is held in the high-order eight bits. The low-order bits indicate if the process was killed by a -signal (bit 7) and if so, the signal number (bits 0--6). +signal (bit 7) and if so, the guilty signal number (bits 0--6). Traditionally, @command{awk}'s @code{system()} function has simply -returned the exit status value and ignored death-by-signal. POSIX -states that @command{awk}'s @code{system()} should return the full -16-bit value. - -@command{gawk} steers a middle ground. With @option{--posix}, it returns -the full 16-bit value. By default, it returns just the exit status. The -@option{--traditional} option forces @command{gawk} to ignore -death-by-signal, in which case @code{system()} returns zero. +returned the exit status value divided by 256. In the normal case this +gives the exit status but in the case of death-by-signal it yields +a fractional floating-point value. POSIX states that @command{awk}'s +@code{system()} should return the full 16-bit value. + +@command{gawk} steers a middle ground. +By default, it returns just the exit status. The +@option{--traditional} option causes @command{gawk} to divide +the return vaue by 356, just as Brian Kernighan's @command{awk} does. +With @option{--posix}, it returns the full 16-bit value. If the process was killed by a signal, @command{gawk}'s @code{system()} returns 256 + @var{sig}, where @var{sig} is the number of the signal |