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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!news.he.net!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.webspan.net!usenet From: gpalmer@mutara.noc.webspan.net (Gary Palmer) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: cat foo* > foo.bar causes infinite loop Date: 14 Nov 1996 00:22:54 GMT Organization: WebSpan Inc., New Jersey Lines: 17 Message-ID: <56doou$d4n@news.webspan.net> References: <328A1236.32C4@pilot.msu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: mutara.noc.webspan.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Newsreader: knews 0.9.8 In article <328A1236.32C4@pilot.msu.edu>, Ed Symanzik <zik@pilot.msu.edu> writes: > If I create three files foo1, foo2, and foo3 then run the command > > cat foo* > foo.bar > > in csh I get an infinite loop (at least until the partition fills up). > Seems to me that '*' should be evaluated before new files are created. > I have seen systems that don't behave this way give errors similar to > "can't open foo.bar for both input and output". I'm curious: are you in csh on these other systems? My guess is that the behaviour is VERY dependant on the shell you are running, and (perhaps) what vendor-specific mods have been made to it, rather than the OS. Just a guess tho. Gary