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In article <1990Sep13....@Neon.Stanford.EDU>, j...@Neon.Stanford.EDU (John Kallen) writes...
>I read that the UN*X command for deleting files once was named 'dsw'.
>The author claimed this was for "do swidanya" (sp?) == "goodbye" in 
>Russian. Can anyone verify this?

	Spelled phonetically, it comes out "da sveedanya".  There
	_is_ a 'w' in the Russian alphabet, but it's pronounced 'sh'!
	I think your author was taking some literary license...

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|   Gordon Keegan                 |                                  |
|   Systems Programmer            | "The story's done, Bronco,       |
|   Academic Computing Services   |     don't get weird on me now!"  |
|   University of Texas, Arlington|    Bill Murray as H. S. Thompson |
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j...@Neon.Stanford.EDU (John Kallen)
> I read that the UN*X command for deleting files once was named 'dsw'.
> The author claimed this was for "do swidanya" (sp?) == "goodbye" in 
> Russian. Can anyone verify this?

Nice try, but it stands for "Do Shit Work".


Jonathan A. Chandross
Internet: j...@paul.rutgers.edu
UUCP: rutgers!paul.rutgers.edu!jac

In article <1990Sep13....@Neon.Stanford.EDU> j...@Neon.Stanford.EDU (John Kallen) writes:
>I read that the UN*X command for deleting files once was named 'dsw'.
>The author claimed this was for "do swidanya" (sp?) == "goodbye" in 

It stands for "delete switches", a reference to how you specified
which file you wanted to go away.

In article <17...@oolong.la.locus.com> da...@locus.com (Dave Butterfield) writes:
>It stands for "delete switches", a reference to how you specified
>which file you wanted to go away.

I don't get it.  What switches?

							spl (the p stands for
							probably embarassing
							myself again...)
-- 
Steve Lamont, SciViGuy -- (408) 646-2752 (subject to change at random)
NPS Confuser Center / Code 51 / Naval Postgraduate School / Monterey, CA 93940
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In article <1990Sep13....@Neon.Stanford.EDU>, j...@Neon.Stanford.EDU (John Kallen) writes:
  I read that the UN*X command for deleting files once was named 'dsw'.
  The author claimed this was for "do swidanya" (sp?) == "goodbye" in 
  Russian. Can anyone verify this?

The man page claims that it stands for "Delete from SWitches."  Here, for
the benefit of those of you who still have a pdp-7 but are missing the 'dsw'
command, are the man page and source code.  Please check your Unix license
before installing this on your machine.

Date: 12 Aug 1981 00:35:06 (Wed)
From: research!dmr
Subject: etymology &c
Newsgroups: NET.general

I would advise taking uiucdcs!jerry's account of history and
motivations with a healthy dose of salt.  However, his heart's in
the right place (unlike some).

A while ago someone asked Ken Thompson what he would do differently
if he were to do Unix again.  The answer: "I would have called it
create instead of creat."   Well, my answer is that I would have
fixed the stupid dsw manual page.  Fortunately, I can atone
by publishing a correct account (not the real 1970 manual page,
but an incredible simulation).

>>From research!dmr Wed Aug 12 00:02:17 1981
Subject: dsw manual page (honest)
Newsgroups: NET.general



DSW(1)              UNIX Programmer's Manual               DSW(1)



NAME
     dsw - delete from switches

SYNOPSIS
     (put number in console switches)
     dsw
     core

DESCRIPTION
     _d_s_w reads the console switches to obtain a number _n, prints
     the name of the _n-th file in the current directory, and
     exits, leaving a core image file named _c_o_r_e. If this core
     file is executed, the file whose name was last printed is
     unlinked (see _u_n_l_i_n_k(2)).

     The command is useful for deleting files whose names are
     difficult to type.

SEE ALSO
     rm(1), unlink(2)

BUGS
     This command was written in 2 minutes to delete a particular
     file that managed to get an 0200 bit in its name.  It should
     work by printing the name of each file in a specified direc-
     tory and requesting a `y' or `n' answer.  Better, it should
     be an option of _r_m(1).

     The name is mnemonic, but likely to cause trouble in the
     future.



Printed 8/11/81            PDP-7 local                          1

Date: 8 Dec 84 09:45:09 GMT
From: dmr@research.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards
Subject: dsw: pdp7 memorabilia

I happened to dredge up an old notebook and found a listing
of the PDP-7 version of dsw.  Because several people have approached
me recently about reviving a version of PDP-7 Unix as a sort of
paleontological exhibit, and because the subject has been discussed
here, I thought people might be interested in seeing the code.
I first considered net.sources, but decided not to carry whimsy too far.

		Dennis Ritchie

Notes:

1) The assembler has Knuth-style temporary labels but no literals.

2) The name of the current directory was evidently ".."

3) Formatting is faithfully reproduced.

4) "sys save" makes a core image.
------
" dsw

   lac djmp
   dac .-1
   oas cla
   cma
   tad d1
   dac t1
   sys open; dd; 0
1:
   lac d2
   sys read; dir; 8
   sna
   sys exit
   lac dir
   sna
   jmp 1b
   isz t1
   jmp 1b

wr:
   lac d1
   sys write; dir+1; 4
   lac d1
   sys write; o12; 1
   sys save
do:
   sys unlink; dir+1
   sys exit

d1: 1
d2: 2
o12: 012
t1: 0
djmp: jmp do
dd: 056056; 040040; 040040; 040040
dir: .=.+8

In article <17...@oolong.la.locus.com> da...@locus.com (Dave Butterfield) writes:
>It stands for "delete switches", a reference to how you specified
>which file you wanted to go away.

In article <14...@cs.nps.navy.mil> s...@cs.nps.navy.mil (Steve Lamont) writes:
>I don't get it.  What switches?

The ones that have been deleted.
-- 
David A. Kuder              Looking for enough time to get past patchlevel 1
415 438-2003  da...@indetech.com  {uunet,sun,sharkey,pacbell}!indetech!david