From: Daniel Barker Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp Subject: Penalty for immature language (PERL/BASH) Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 23:11:51 +0000 Organization: Edinburgh University Lines: 48 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: holyrood.ed.ac.uk Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Trace: scotsman.ed.ac.uk 983401904 24962 129.215.16.14 (28 Feb 2001 23:11:44 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet AT scotsman DOT ed DOT ac DOT uk NNTP-Posting-Date: 28 Feb 2001 23:11:44 GMT To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp Reply-To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com I have encountered a strange and repeatable crash whilst trying to teach myself PERL. Possibly it's a joke (but not by me)! DJGPP Packages: BASH bsh203b PERL perl552b Operating system: Windows 98 (heavily updated) At the BASH prompt, I launch the following PERL script, prog.pl: while(<>) { `$_` } If I give this a single line consisting of the word "poo", BASH performs an illegal instruction. Here are the contents of my BASH window: c:/My\ Documents/perl $ PERL prog.pl poo Windows 98 then gives me the following details: BASH This program has performed an illegal operation and will be terminated. Quit all programs, and then restart your computer. If the program consistently encounters problems, click the Start button, then select Help, Troubleshooting, and 'If you have trouble running MS-DOS programs'. Details: The program tried to execute an invalid instruction. Fault location: 0F81:018C I have tried this a few times, and the fault location varies but nothing else does. Nothing called poo is on my PATH. I tried using more polite input, i.e., three-letter strings other than "poo", and the fault does not occur! -- Daniel Barker.