Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 17:00:03 -0700 From: "Bryan O'Sullivan" <bos@Eng.Sun.COM> To: Ade Barkah <mbarkah@hemi.com> Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Being curious with `cat * > file' Message-ID: <9507220000.AA19248@plokta.Eng.Sun.COM> In-Reply-To: <199507192022.OAA10037@hemi.com> References: <199507192022.OAA10037@hemi.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
a> What should `cat * > output` do ? Should it gracefully concatenate
a> all the files together into a file called `output', or will it
a> attempt to cat the output into itself so many times until the file
a> system is filled ?
Welcome to the happy world of Unix shell programming ("Semantics?
Uh... what that big word mean?"). Whether the filename expansion is
performed before or after the output-file-to-be is created depends on
the shell you are using and, interestingly enough, not a one of the
common shells whose manual pages I checked documented the order in
which such things happen.
The portable fix: don't try anything like "cat * > output". It's not
a FreeBSD problem; it's universal.
<b
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?9507220000.AA19248>