Skip to content

Add z command (clear pattern space) #396

@sylvestre

Description

@sylvestre

Bug

The GNU z command — clear the pattern space (sets it to empty
without printing) — is not implemented.

Reproduction

$ printf "a\nb\n" | /usr/bin/sed 'z'
                 # two empty lines

$ printf "a\nb\n" | ./target/release/sed 'z'
sed: <script argument 1>:1:1: error: invalid command code `z'

What it should do

From the GNU manual:

z This command empties the contents of the pattern space.

Equivalent to s/.*// but never sets the substitution flag (so does
not affect t/T). Takes 0 or 1 address; rejected under --posix.

Suspected place to add it

src/sed/compiler.rs:1276get_cmd_spec:

'z' => Ok(CommandSpec {
    n_addr: 2,
    handler: compile_empty_command,
}),

…and in processor.rs add an execution case that does
pattern_space.clear() (or equivalent for the type used).

Note: not to be confused with the -z / --null-data CLI flag, which
is already implemented at mod.rs:106.

Affected GNU testsuite tests

Direct test (z.sh) is not in the runner's set, but compile-errors
asserts that z is rejected under --posix. Once z exists,
bad_command rejection works automatically.

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions