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I have been trying the https://github.com/ngemily/vim-vp4 plugin for integrating Perforce version control commands into Vim.

The Vp4Diff command fails for me. I tracked it down to a step where a system(cmd) function was being called when cmd = "p4 fstat-T headrev <filename>#have".

The problem is actually not caused by Perforce. I find that any cmd containing a # character will fail.

:call system('touch #this')

...but I get an error:

E484: Can't open file /tmp/vx0yoZZ/1

I'm using Vim 8.2.1001. This happens for both tcsh shell and bash. It also happens when running vim --clean.

I'm disapointed the error message wasn't "U Can't Touch #This"

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    # indicates a comment in the shell (where that is running). You can quote it... system("touch '#this'") ...which will prevent its interpretation as a comment char.
    – B Layer
    Aug 25, 2021 at 21:09
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    ...escaping it should work, too, FYI ... system('touch \#this').
    – B Layer
    Aug 25, 2021 at 21:15

1 Answer 1

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Escaping the # is necessary for the shell to not consider it a comment.

That can be done with the escape() function:

let cmd = 'touch #this'
call system(escape(cmd, '#'))

The shellescape() function does not work here because a pair of single quotes would surround both words together, as if 'touch \#this' was a single Linux command.

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  • Well, it'll work if you do system('touch ' . shellescape('#this')) which is a perfectly reasonable approach although fnameescape('#this') is probably a better choice.
    – B Layer
    Aug 26, 2021 at 4:36

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