IFS contains Meta - why?

["J.D. Laub" <jdl@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

% rcsdiff -r2.9 -r2.10 init.c,v
2c2
<  * $Id: init.c,v 2.8 1996/05/02 23:01:04 [...]
---
>  * $Id: init.c,v 2.9 1996/05/02 23:01:04 [...]
[...]
603c606,607
<     ifs         = ztrdup(" \t\n");
---
>     ifs         = ztrdup(" \t\n  ");
>     ifs[3]      = Meta;

1) Why does a space (0x20) appear both at the start and end of IFS?
2) Why is Meta in there (contrary to the man page)?  The sort command
    under HPUX 10.01 stops processing when it runs across non-ascii
    characters, so I see nothing after IFS when I run "set | sort".
-- 
J.D. Laub (Laubster) HBOC/CliniCom|"I think you're very, very, very, very, very,
jdl@xxxxxxxxxxxx     Boulder,CO   |very, very, very, very, ..." - Flying Lizards