Why is the maximum allowed parameters for a shell script (for example, run with the terminal) 65535? Why not a different number? Why so… huge?
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Why is the maximum allowed parameters for a shell script (for example, run with the terminal) 65535? Why not a different number? Why so… huge?
65535 happens to be 216 – 1, which is the maximum number than can be represented in an unsigned 16-bit integer. At the time the software was designed, that was probably close enough to “infinity” for all practical purposes. Today, with 64-bit machines on every desktop, it seems quaintly small, yet still far more than you would ever use for a shell script.