File: autoconf.info, Node: Slashes, Next: Special Shell Variables, Prev: Parentheses, Up: Portable Shell 11.11 Slashes in Shell Scripts ============================== Unpatched Tru64 5.1 ‘sh’ omits the last slash of command-line arguments that contain two trailing slashes: $ echo / // /// //// .// //. / / // /// ./ //. $ x=// $ eval "echo \$x" / $ set -x $ echo abc | tr -t ab // + echo abc + tr -t ab / /bc Unpatched Tru64 4.0 ‘sh’ adds a slash after ‘"$var"’ if the variable is empty and the second double-quote is followed by a word that begins and ends with slash: $ sh -xc 'p=; echo "$p"/ouch/' p= + echo //ouch/ //ouch/ However, our understanding is that patches are available, so perhaps it's not worth worrying about working around these horrendous bugs.