[latexrefman] Fwd: What does « write part of a line » mean ?

[Karl Berry]

    the command interpretation is done by the shell, not by LaTeX 

Yes, sure. And that is exactly what my description says:
> * \write18::          Run an operating system command.

I used "Run" instead of "Write to" precisely because of the point that
(La)TeX is not doing any interpretation.

    I think that there is a phrase for that : « Do a system call » / « Faire
    un appel système » would be both more concise and more clear.

No, "system call" has another meaning in English. A "system call" is a
function provided by the kernel, like open(2). Although it would be
comprehensible, the text I put in is better. IMNSHO :). --best, karl.