# Description
We've had a lot of different issues and PRs related to arg handling with
externals since the rewrite of `run-external` in #12921:
- #12950
- #12955
- #13000
- #13001
- #13021
- #13027
- #13028
- #13073
Many of these are caused by the argument handling of external calls and
`run-external` being very special and involving the parser handing
quoted strings over to `run-external` so that it knows whether to expand
tildes and globs and so on. This is really unusual and also makes it
harder to use `run-external`, and also harder to understand it (and
probably is part of the reason why it was rewritten in the first place).
This PR moves a lot more of that work over to the parser, so that by the
time `run-external` gets it, it's dealing with much more normal Nushell
values. In particular:
- Unquoted strings are handled as globs with no expand
- The unescaped-but-quoted handling of strings was removed, and the
parser constructs normal looking strings instead, removing internal
quotes so that `run-external` doesn't have to do it
- Bare word interpolation is now supported and expansion is done in this
case
- Expressions typed as `Glob` containing `Expr::StringInterpolation` now
produce `Value::Glob` instead, with the quoted status from the expr
passed through so we know if it was a bare word
- Bare word interpolation for values typed as `glob` now possible, but
not implemented
- Because expansion is now triggered by `Value::Glob(_, false)` instead
of looking at the expr, externals now support glob types
# User-Facing Changes
- Bare word interpolation works for external command options, and
otherwise embedded in other strings:
```nushell
^echo --foo=(2 + 2) # prints --foo=4
^echo -foo=$"(2 + 2)" # prints -foo=4
^echo foo="(2 + 2)" # prints (no interpolation!) foo=(2 + 2)
^echo foo,(2 + 2),bar # prints foo,4,bar
```
- Bare word interpolation expands for external command head/args:
```nushell
let name = "exa"
~/.cargo/bin/($name) # this works, and expands the tilde
^$"~/.cargo/bin/($name)" # this doesn't expand the tilde
^echo ~/($name)/* # this glob is expanded
^echo $"~/($name)/*" # this isn't expanded
```
- Ndots are now supported for the head of an external command
(`^.../foo` works)
- Glob values are now supported for head/args of an external command,
and expanded appropriately:
```nushell
^("~/.cargo/bin/exa" | into glob) # the tilde is expanded
^echo ("*.txt" | into glob) # this glob is expanded
```
- `run-external` now works more like any other command, without
expecting a special call convention
for its args:
```nushell
run-external echo "'foo'"
# before PR: 'foo'
# after PR: foo
run-external echo "*.txt"
# before PR: (glob is expanded)
# after PR: *.txt
```
# Tests + Formatting
Lots of tests added and cleaned up. Some tests that weren't active on
Windows changed to use `nu --testbin cococo` so that they can work.
Added a test for Linux only to make sure tilde expansion of commands
works, because changing `HOME` there causes `~` to reliably change.
- 🟢 `toolkit fmt`
- 🟢 `toolkit clippy`
- 🟢 `toolkit test`
- 🟢 `toolkit test stdlib`
# After Submitting
- [ ] release notes: make sure to mention the new syntaxes that are
supported
bdc32345bd