> I've often wondered if > our tests would be more readable taking the snippet over stdin. > Something like: > > diff --git a/t/t3900-i18n-commit.sh b/t/t3900-i18n-commit.sh > index 9e4e694d93..09ad4d8878 100755 > --- a/t/t3900-i18n-commit.sh > +++ b/t/t3900-i18n-commit.sh > @@ -39,14 +39,14 @@ test_expect_success 'UTF-16 refused because of NULs' ' > test_must_fail git commit -a -F "$TEST_DIRECTORY"/t3900/UTF-16.txt > ' > > -test_expect_success 'UTF-8 invalid characters refused' ' Note that the test snippet started right after that last single quote, i.e. it started with a newline. > - test_when_finished "rm -f \"$HOME/stderr $HOME/invalid\"" && > +test_expect_success 'UTF-8 invalid characters refused' - <<\EOT > + test_when_finished 'rm -f "$HOME/stderr $HOME/invalid"' && And now it starts at the beginning of this line, i.e. without that leading neline. This change leads to the following when run with '-v': expecting success: test_when_finished 'rm -f "$HOME/stderr $HOME/invalid"' && echo "UTF-8 characters" >F && printf "Commit message\n\nInvalid surrogate:\355\240\200\n" \ >"$HOME/invalid" && git commit -a -F "$HOME/invalid" 2>"$HOME"/stderr && test_i18ngrep "did not conform" "$HOME"/stderr Notice how the "expecting success" and the first line of the test ended up in the same line. I find this more annoying than the lack of empty line between the colored and indented test code and the uncolored and unindented test output. > echo "UTF-8 characters" >F && > printf "Commit message\n\nInvalid surrogate:\355\240\200\n" \ > >"$HOME/invalid" && > git commit -a -F "$HOME/invalid" 2>"$HOME"/stderr && > test_i18ngrep "did not conform" "$HOME"/stderr > -' > +EOT > > test_expect_success 'UTF-8 overlong sequences rejected' ' > test_when_finished "rm -f \"$HOME/stderr $HOME/invalid\"" && > diff --git a/t/test-lib-functions.sh b/t/test-lib-functions.sh > index 1701fe2a06..be8a47d304 100644 > --- a/t/test-lib-functions.sh > +++ b/t/test-lib-functions.sh > @@ -391,11 +391,32 @@ test_verify_prereq () { > error "bug in the test script: '$test_prereq' does not look like a prereq" > } > > +# Read from stdin into the variable given in $1. > +test_read_to_eof () { > + # Bash's "read" is sufficiently flexible that we can skip the extra > + # process. > + if test -n "$BASH_VERSION" > + then > + # 64k should be enough for anyone... > + read -N 65536 -r "$1" > + else > + # command substitution eats trailing whitespace, so we add > + # and then remove a non-whitespace character. > + eval "$1=\$(cat; printf x)" > + eval "$1=\${$1%x}" > + fi > +} Command substitutions don't eat trailing whitespaces in general, only trailing newlines. POSIX: The shell shall expand the command substitution by executing command in a subshell environment (see Shell Execution Environment) and replacing the command substitution (the text of command plus the enclosing "$()" or backquotes) with the standard output of the command, removing sequences of one or more <newline>s at the end of the substitution. Bash and dash conform to this. How about this alternative (also adding the missing leading newline mentioned above): + eval "$1=' +'\$(cat)' +'" The indentation is yuck, but overall perhaps a bit less hacky...