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(am-utils.info)File maps

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File maps
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   When Amd searches a file for a map entry it does a simple scan of
the file and supports both comments and continuation lines.

   Continuation lines are indicated by a backslash character (`\') as
the last character of a line in the file.  The backslash, newline
character _and any leading white space on the following line_ are
discarded.  A maximum line length of 2047 characters is enforced after
continuation lines are read but before comments are stripped.  Each
line must end with a newline character; that is newlines are
terminators, not separators.  The following examples illustrate this:

     key     valA   valB;   \
               valC

   specifies _three_ locations, and is identical to

     key     valA   valB;   valC

   However,

     key     valA   valB;\
               valC

   specifies only _two_ locations, and is identical to

     key     valA   valB;valC

   After a complete line has been read from the file, including
continuations, Amd determines whether there is a comment on the line.
A comment begins with a hash ("`#'") character and continues to the end
of the line.  There is no way to escape or change the comment lead-in
character.

   Note that continuation lines and comment support "only" apply to
file maps, or ndbm maps built with the `mk-amd-map' program.

   When caching is enabled, file maps have a default cache mode of
`all' (Note: Automount Filesystem).