> I haven't seen any standard unix
> configuration files, which would NOT have
> the '#' at the beginning of the line :) ,
> that's why I'm always using -v '#' .
The original question said "vi file"
(whatever that means), not "standard unix
configuration files". However, let's look at
the example of "sudoers". I'm not a big sudo
user, so I know nothing, but a quick Google
search found some documentation which
suggests that "sudoers" might contain
notation like, say,
#include /etc/sudoers.local
which would make this task a little more
chancy. Also, it appears that one is allowed
to use "#" to add a comment to the end of a
normal line, and it seems to be a part of the
"sudoers" syntax, as in "#uid" or "%#gid".
So, discarding any line which contains "#"
anywhere would seem in this example to risk
losing considerable useful information.
If you would like to expand "^#" to include
white space before "#" (and/or "#include" at
the beginning of a line), then I wouldn't
complain.
> Everything's complicated, [...]
A simple solution to a problem is normally
better than a more complicated one, unless
that simpler "solution" doesn't actually
solve the problem. (Of course, having a
clear and complete definition of the problem
is helpful, but this is often difficult to
obtain.)
