On Thu, Jul 23, 2015 at 10:47 AM, JD Ballard <i.am.qix@gmail.com> wrote:
> Is there a reason why file descriptors are maxed out at 9?

It's not a descriptor limitation, it's a syntax limitation. The syntax for
">" permits only a single digit to the left.

You can work around it this way:

$ fd=10
$ cat {fd}>/tmp/foo

Although FDs 10,11,12 tend to be used a lot by the shell internally.