Hello. [tested on current git head f6d4def4e27b13fab174e948b94cd10550d3e10e] Command substitution doesn't seem to work in $PS4 (used for xtrace prompt): $ PS4='$(date +%T)> ' dash -xc : dash: 1: Syntax error: end of file unexpected (expecting ")") And with the old syntax: $ PS4='`date +%T`> ' dash -xc : > : And with more than one command: $ PS4='`date +%T`> ' dash -xc ':;:' > : dash doesn't return and seems to go in a forking loop, presumably because the `date` there triggers another PS4 expansion and so on recursively If I prevent the recursion with: --- a/src/eval.c +++ b/src/eval.c @@ -776,7 +776,15 @@ evalcommand(union node *cmd, int flags) int sep; out = &preverrout; + + /* + * reset xflag temporarily for command substitutions performed + * upon $PS4 expansion + */ + xflag = 0; outstr(expandstr(ps4val()), out); + xflag = 1; + sep = 0; sep = eprintlist(out, varlist.list, sep); eprintlist(out, arglist.list, sep); $ PS4='`date +%T`> ' ./src/dash -xc ':;sleep 1; date' > : 21:43:47> sleep 1 21:43:48> date Mon Nov 17 21:43:48 GMT 2014 The command substitution still fails upon the first expansion only. I quickly gave up trying to find out why as I found the code there hard to follow. -- Stephane -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe dash" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html