Comparing and Merging Files with GNU diff and patch by David MacKenzie, Paul Eggert, and Richard Stallman Paperback (6"x9"), 120 pages ISBN 0954161750 RRP £12.95 ($19.95) "Well packaged... the quality of information is excellent" --- Linux User and Developer Magazine (Issue 36, Feb 2004) Get a printed copy>>>

Comparing and Merging Files with GNU diff and patch Buy the book here! >>> learn more

10.11.3 patch Quoting Style

When patch outputs a file name in a diagnostic message, it can format the name in any of several ways. This can be useful to output file names unambiguously, even if they contain punctuation or special characters like newlines. The --quoting-style=word option controls how names are output. The word should be one of the following:

‘literal’

Output names as-is.

‘shell’

Quote names for the shell if they contain shell metacharacters or would cause ambiguous output.

‘shell-always’

Quote names for the shell, even if they would normally not require quoting.

‘c’

Quote names as for a C language string.

‘escape’

Quote as with ‘c’ except omit the surrounding double-quote characters.

You can specify the default value of the --quoting-style option with the environment variable QUOTING_STYLE. If that environment variable is not set, the default value is ‘shell’, but this default may change in a future version of patch.