Re: Bug#339136: Changes in stat package output break apt-move

[Jim Meyering]

Michael Stone <address@hidden> wrote:
...
> My main concern here is that there is no way for someone to use
> stat -c "%whatever" file1 file2
> and expect it to work for both syntaxes without reverting to some truely
> hideous sed games or somesuch.

But there *is* a way.  It's just that the portable solution
doesn't fit on one line:

  $ stat -c '%G
  > ' / /
  root
  root

You can also do something like this:

#!/bin/sh
nl='
'
stat -c "%G$nl" / /

If you don't mind relying on a feature that
works in both bash and zsh, there's yet another way:

  $ stat -c $'%G\n' / /
  root
  root