[net.unix-wizards] Cat -s Down Under the Stars - totally different on SysV and 4.*BSD

wcs@ho95e.UUCP (x0705) (08/27/85)

> > > >             cc -E prog.c | cb | cat -s
> > > ANOTHER FLAG FOR CAT!?!?!? How many places have cat -s?
> > >       Peter (The Mad Australian) da Silva
> Well, PC/IX, IS/3 (our System III port), IS/Workbench (our VMS Workbench),
> as well as AT&T's Sys V, AT&T's Sys V.2.1, and all of our other ports
> which I can't name publicly ... in fact, I haven't found ANY UNIX* that
> doesn't have cat -s.
> 			   Geoffrey Kimbrough INTERACTIVE Systems Corp.

(My V7 manual doesn't have cat -s!)
The cat -s options on System III/V/VR* and 4.*BSD mean two TOTALLY DIFFERENT
things!.
System III/V cat -s means "silent" - don't complain about non-existent files.
Berkeley cat -s means "squash" - delete multiple newlines (I forget if this
	gets rid of ALL blank lines, or only reduces groups of blank lines to a
	single blank line.
-- 
## Bill Stewart, AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ 1-201-949-0705 ihnp4!ho95c!wcs