From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=MAILING_LIST_MULTI, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: (qmail 7985 invoked from network); 4 Dec 2020 09:28:35 -0000 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (45.79.103.53) by inbox.vuxu.org with ESMTPUTF8; 4 Dec 2020 09:28:35 -0000 Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 644069CBEB; Fri, 4 Dec 2020 19:28:29 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 099659CA4F; Fri, 4 Dec 2020 19:27:53 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 566AA9CA4F; Fri, 4 Dec 2020 19:27:50 +1000 (AEST) Received: from freefriends.org (freefriends.org [96.88.95.60]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id AC9309CA4B for ; Fri, 4 Dec 2020 19:27:49 +1000 (AEST) X-Envelope-From: arnold@skeeve.com Received: from freefriends.org (freefriends.org [96.88.95.60]) by freefriends.org (8.14.7/8.14.7) with ESMTP id 0B49RkiJ019896 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NOT); Fri, 4 Dec 2020 02:27:47 -0700 Received: (from arnold@localhost) by freefriends.org (8.14.7/8.14.7/Submit) id 0B49Rkx6019895; Fri, 4 Dec 2020 02:27:46 -0700 From: arnold@skeeve.com Message-Id: <202012040927.0B49Rkx6019895@freefriends.org> X-Authentication-Warning: frenzy.freefriends.org: arnold set sender to arnold@skeeve.com using -f Date: Fri, 04 Dec 2020 02:27:46 -0700 To: robpike@gmail.com, crossd@gmail.com References: <20201203204301.GW19746@mcvoy.com> In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Heirloom mailx 12.5 7/5/10 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: [TUHS] The UNIX Command Language (1976) X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.26 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: tuhs@tuhs.org Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" Dan Cross wrote: > This has always struck me as particularly elegant in scripts. Consider: > > cat "$@" | whatever > > (Or you may prefer `cat $* | whatever`) > > Now one's script can take any number of file arguments or stdin, even if > the filter does not. I think Dan has hit the heart of the matter. People are used to using cat for multiple files to start pumping data down a pipeline, so they continue to do so even when there's only one file. Arnold