The Other Scott excuses hisself:
Sorry if I'm seeming dense.
Hey, better you than me! ;-) (For once.)


Why is it different on BSD/Unix/OSX? Does the command interpreter not automatically look for executables in the current directory first? Does the ./ tell the command interpreter to look in the current directory because it won't otherwise? <lightbulb>
Ed Zachary.

Iff'n yer gonna HAVE a concept of "search path" that's supposed to tell ya where to run apps from (unless you explicitly SAY where they're at), then the consistent and logical thing to do would be to ONLY run apps from directories in the search path (unless, etc).

So, no surprise, that's what *nix does.

The way DOS/Winders (and, if you say so, OS/2) do it -- i.e, searching the current directory, whether it's in the path or not -- can be seen in two slightly different ways, albeit with the same end result: Either it *also* always searches the current directory, in *addition* to the path; or, you could say, in these OSes the path *implicitly* always *includes* the current directory.

Looking at it the first way it's inconsistent, going against the most basic definition of "search path"; the second, it's typical MS-OS sleight-of-hand based on not-explicitly-stated behind-the-scenes machinations.

Either way, consistent and logical it actually ain't -- *easy*, perhaps, but when you think about it, neither as consistent nor as logical as the *nix way.

</lightbulb>