fun with Unix

[Deke Kassabian]

This is driving me crazy (OK, so it probably doesn't take all that much
as I'm probably most of the way there most of the time)

Lately it has become a fad on this newsgroup to suggest UNIX shell command
lines that produce funny results...... much to (apparently) almost everyone's
confusion.  The cause, I think, of most of this confusion is the fact that
the posters are neglecting to mention **which** shell, or rm, or cat they
are using.  In particular, funny behaviour depending on metacharacters like
'?' will only work under shells that try to expand/match based on those
characters (the csh works nicely here).  Things that are funny due to syntax
like "cannot open" only work in S5 environments (cat catfood just isn't as
funny in BSD land).

Its not that I don't have a sense of humor, but lots of folks seem baffled,
and there is an easy solution.....  Tell us about your environment when you
post your "fun with Unix(sic)".

OK.  So here's my ridiculous contribution.  Should work anywhere that 'make'
exists, S5 or BSD (I think):


try:
        make 'heads or tails of all this'

^Deke
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 \\\  Deke Kassabian, URochester Department of Electrical Engineering  \\\
  \\\ deke at ee.rochester.edu                  "I never metacharacter     \\\
   \\\   or ...!rochester!ur-valhalla!deke     I didn't like......"      \\\
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Quick as a wink, the sly cat stole Monroe's cheese sandwich