OK, I read through the xargs documentation, pretty cool!

https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699959099/utilities/xargs.html

@vaporeon_ oh wow, posix xargs doesn’t suppurrt using null characters as a sepurrator

@aescling What would be the use-case for null characters as separators? Processing files that have a newline in the name?

@vaporeon_ exactly

@aescling Personally my opinion is that if you put a newline inside a filename, you deserve whatever troubles this causes you... It's just a wrong thing to do, even if it's technically allowed...

But I understand that not everyone may agree with that.

@vaporeon_ @aescling This has happened before by accident as a result of trying to operate on text files/scripts that were saved in windows notepad.

@onfy @vaporeon_ this succinctly raises so many questions lol, i love it

@aescling @vaporeon_ One thing we did was a script that would take every line in a text file and make an empty file named for it
Say the document says:
Super Mario Bros
Luigi's Mansion
Sonic the Hedgehog 2

After the last character of every line it would have a newline characters because bash assumes Linux line endings instead of windows

So you get a file named Super Mario Bros[CR].

@onfy @aescling Hmmm.... cat your-file-list | tr -d '\r' | xargs touch?
(Without testing, give me a few seconds to test this)

@vaporeon_ @aescling I don't remember just what I did. I guess I should've asked you instead of whatever horrible thing it was.

Though it did work in the end if you ignore that it broke FAT.

@onfy @aescling I only learned how to use xargs today, at most a few hours ago, so don't assume I am competent when I am not...

@vaporeon_ @aescling more than me

@onfy @aescling You, too, can learn xargs!

In any case, you're still learning Linux right? I think it'd be unfair to call someone incompetent who is still learning. Do you want me to look over your script and review it?

It's just that I have been doing this for so many years that I really ought to know it... And also I specifically want to be good at computers, just like some of y'all want to be good at melee fighting games or whatever, and so it is frustrating when despite my best efforts, I am bad at computers...

@vaporeon_ @onfy

I think it'd be unfair to call someone incompetent who is still learning.

vaporeon… please take your own advice…

@aescling @onfy I think it'd be wrong to call me "someone who is still learning" after all these years, I really ought to know Linux by now, I'm really not new to it at all

@vaporeon_ @aescling nah fuck you, take your advice vaporeon

@onfy @aescling

But it doesn't apply to me

@vaporeon_ @aescling we're all learning, always. give up on learning is like giving up on yourself

@onfy @aescling I think I gave up on myself years ago, TBH

@vaporeon_ @aescling today's the second-best time to plant a tree