[net.unix] cat arguments and wild-cards

tjr@ihnet.UUCP (Tom Roberts) (04/18/84)

The shell is actually expanding the wild-card (*), NOT cat.

Note that if the shell expanded

	cat <x*

it would be possible to have multiple filenames match the "x*", AND THESE
EXTRA FILES WOULD BECOME ARGUMENTS TO CAT. This could easily cause very
strange behavior (for programs other than cat). The designer(s) of the
shell decided to simply NOT expand any wild-cards for stream-redirections.

	Tom Roberts
	ihnp4!ihnet!tjr

honey@down.UUCP (code 101) (04/18/84)

i asked bourne some years back why he didn't glob on redirection.  he
replied that he wasn't satisfied with any of the proposals for handling
multiple matches.  simply a matter of taste.
	peter honeyman