Re: Source code for gtk-demo

["Freddie Unpenstein" <fredderic excite com>]

> I guess since my shell defaults to \ with directories or file names
> that have spaces and windows requires "" around parameters passed
> the the executable i was wrong about linux also being able to use\
> "" for parameters passed to the executable..

Linux's argv[] array is, in fact, passed as an array.  Much in the same way as the environment, I believe.  
Each argument in argv[] is in fact a discrete string.

In Winblows, I believe it receives one solid string which the real C entry point parses into an array before 
it calls main(), passing it through as an array.

So what's actually happening on Winblows is that the command-line parser within the application is sensitive 
to double-quotes (but possibly not to \-quoting) and is using that to figure out what you wanted the 
arguments to be.  Generally, I believe the original command-line is preserved within the programs 
environment, and a copy is created containing the discrete arguments as they're parsed out.  (I used to 
program DOS Assembler, where we didn't have a built-in argument parses.)

In Linux, the shell is what parses the command-line, stripping off the quoting as it goes, and passes the 
actual filename(s) as discrete arguments, the way they should be.  In Bash and similar Unix shells, you can 
even mix quoting styles as needed.  (Bash offers double-quotes, single-quotes, and back-quoting, as standard.)

As an interesting example, the Windows "echo" command will preserve multiple spaces and what-not, and 
generally print out exactly what you give it (including any quoting).  The Unix "echo" command doesn't, and 
will reduce any white-space separating individual arguments to a single space, unless quoted.  This is, as I 
said, a function of the shell.  If you use the exec() system call from Unix, and pass it an argument with 
quotes, those quotes will indeed be printed as expected.


Fredderic

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