mark@hsi86.hsi.com (Mark Sicignano) (02/13/91)
Let me just show you... $ false $ echo $? 1 $ false ; echo $? 1 $ false | echo $? 0 Ok... so the $? must be from the previously executed command, which is the previous echo, which returned 0? So, this should print 1? $ false $ false | echo $? 0 wrong... What is this 0 return status coming from? The pipe? When a pipe is created, does the shell set $? depending on whether or not the pipe was successful? Don't tell me that "false | echo $?" has no useful purpose. I know that!!!! I'm just trying to use it as a simple example! -mark -- Mark Sicignano ...!uunet!hsi!mark 3M Health Information Systems mark@hsi.com