[OT] Does "~" always point to $HOME?

[Bill Campbell]

On Fri, Jan 26, 2007, Dak Ghatikachalam wrote:
>I write shells script extensively , I have noticed
>
>~      -> gets a subsitution for $HOME
>~userid   - >gets you the $HOME for that user
>
>meaning if  you have  have logged in as root and  if you want to run some
>script on oracle home even though you logged in as root  you can simplly
>
>~oracle/runme.sh  -- > will run the runme.sh in Oracle home directory

While that's true for most shells, bash, csh, tcsh, etc., it
doesn't work on true Bourne /bin/sh shells (e.g. SCO OpenServer
5.0.6a and earlier and probably others with Bell Labs ancestors).

It's a Good Idea(tm) when writing scripts that may be used on
many systems to program defensively, for the lowest common
denominator to avoid pitfalls like this.

Bill
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