OT: $0

[Andy Armstrong]

I've just noticed that:

   $ cat bar.pl
   #!/usr/bin/perl
   print "I am called $0\n";
   system "ps ax | grep bar";
   $0 = $0;
   print "I am called $0\n";
   system "ps ax | grep bar";
   { ( my $exe, $0 ) = ( $0, '' ); $0 = $exe }
   print "I am called $0\n";
   system "ps ax | grep bar";

   $ perl bar.pl
   I am called bar.pl
   95572 s003  S+     0:00.01 perl bar.pl
   I am called bar.pl
   95572 s003  S+     0:00.01 perl bar.pl
   I am called bar.pl
   95572 s003  S+     0:00.01 bar.pl

In other words setting $0 gets rid of the 'perl ' from the process  
name that ps sees - but only if you set $0 to something other than its  
current value. Who knew.

So the question becomes what's the shortest one-liner that will cause  
what ps displays to be the same as what $0 contains?

My first attempt is

( $0 .= ' ' ) =~ s/ $//;

-- 
Andy Armstrong, Hexten