#103 \input|"ls *[!A]" aborts

[tkl]

A file containing the line
\input|"ls *[!A].tex"
aborts, on the first run, with
.../web2c/lib/texmfmp.c:2558: maketexstring: Assertion `s != 0' failed.
but works on the second run, when an .aux-file is present.
Minimum example:
\documentclass{minimal}
\begin{document}
This dir contains
\input|"ls *[!A].tex"
.
\end{document}

[Khaled Hosny]

I can’t reproduce this without more details. What is the result of running ls *[!A].tex in the terminal before the first run and after it? What OS and XeTeX version are you using?

[tkl]

Below terminal output from Ubuntu 14.04 with a not so recent
tex-installation, further below on a more up-to date archlinux. (Note,
the "*" is unquoted, the markdown-language on the web-site required to
write "*". As a side note, the line \input|"ls *[!A].tex" also gave an
unexpected result.)

On Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, kernel 3.13.0:

$ ls *[!A].tex
t.tex

$ xelatex --shell-escape t.tex
This is XeTeX, Version 3.1415926-2.5-0.9999.3 (TeX Live 2013/Debian)
\write18 enabled.
entering extended mode
(./t.tex
LaTeX2e <2011/06/27>
Babel <3.9h> and hyphenation patterns for 7 languages loaded.
(/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/minimal.cls
Document Class: minimal 2001/05/25 Standard LaTeX minimal class
)
No file t.aux.
xelatex: ../../../texk/web2c/lib/texmfmp.c:2543: maketexstring:
Assertion `s != 0' failed.
Aborted (core dumped)

$ ls *[!A].tex
t.tex

$ xelatex --shell-escape t.tex
This is XeTeX, Version 3.1415926-2.5-0.9999.3 (TeX Live 2013/Debian)
\write18 enabled.
entering extended mode
(./t.tex
LaTeX2e <2011/06/27>
Babel <3.9h> and hyphenation patterns for 7 languages loaded.
(/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/minimal.cls
Document Class: minimal 2001/05/25 Standard LaTeX minimal class
) (./t.aux) (./t.aux) [1] (./t.aux) )
Output written on t.pdf (1 page).
Transcript written on t.log.

$ pdftotext t.pdf -
This dir contains t.tex .

$ ls *[!A].tex
t.tex

On archlinux, kernel 3.17.3:

($ ls *[!A].tex always gives: t.tex)

$ xelatex --shell-escape t.tex
This is XeTeX, Version 3.14159265-2.6-0.99991 (TeX Live 2014) (preloaded
format=xelatex)
\write18 enabled.
entering extended mode
(./t.tex
LaTeX2e <2014/05/01>
Babel <3.9l> and hyphenation patterns for 7 languages loaded.
(/usr/local/texlive/2014/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/minimal.cls
Document Class: minimal 2001/05/25 Standard LaTeX minimal class
)
No file t.aux.
xelatex: ../../../tex-live-2014-04-01/texk/web2c/lib/texmfmp.c:2558:
maketexstring: Assertion `s != 0' failed.
Aborted (core dumped)
$ xelatex --shell-escape t.tex
This is XeTeX, Version 3.14159265-2.6-0.99991 (TeX Live 2014) (preloaded
format=xelatex)
\write18 enabled.
entering extended mode
(./t.tex
LaTeX2e <2014/05/01>
Babel <3.9l> and hyphenation patterns for 7 languages loaded.
(/usr/local/texlive/2014/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/minimal.cls
Document Class: minimal 2001/05/25 Standard LaTeX minimal class
) (./t.aux) (./t.aux) [1] (./t.aux) )
Output written on t.pdf (1 page).
Transcript written on t.log.
$ pdftotext t.pdf -
This dir contains t.tex .