svn status & external definitions

Hi,

On a fresh checkout from a repository, an 'svn status' will return the
following:

X alpha
X beta\B
X beta\C

These are the folders created by svn:externals properties. No problem here.

However, using an 'svn status --ignore-externals' command does not change
the output - the external folders continue to be listed.

The help text for this switch just says '--ignore-externals : ignore
externals definitions'.

Is this intended behaviour? If so, is what scenario will this switch do
something?

Using: svn 1.8.8

---
Daniel Becroft