[tex-live] kpsewhich

[Olaf Weber]

Hans Hagen writes:

> Hi,
> When using kpsewhich, there is a dependency on the OS

> linux:

>    kpsewhich -expand-var "\$SELFAUTOPARENT"
>    kpsewhich -expand-var '$SELFAUTOPARENT'

> windows

>    kpsewhich -expand-var $SELFAUTOPARENT
>    kpsewhich -expand-var "$SELFAUTOPARENT"

> this means that it's rather uncomfortable to write scripts that are
> portable. So, i wonder if it's possible to make kpsewhich in this
> respect platform independent.

> for instance:

>    -expand-var

> expects a var, so maybe supporting

>    kpsewhich -expand-var SELFAUTOPARENT

> makes sense as well.

Basically,
	kpsewhich -expand-var <string>
which gives the "variable expansion" of <string>.  That is, <string>
can be an expression that contains multiple variables.  This feature
is also true for -expand-braces and -expand-path, and is actually used
in a few places, in ways that I'd rather not have to work around.  So
I'd rather keep -expand-var the way it is.

On the other hand, how about saying that
	kpsewhich -var-value <string>
interprets <string> as the name of a variable and that it will give
its value (if any), with no '$' required?

-- 
Olaf Weber

               (This space left blank for technical reasons.)