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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!hplabs!hao!seismo!rlgvax!jds
From: jds@rlgvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.unix
Subject: Re: Little question on "cat"
Message-ID: <2053@rlgvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 25-Jun-84 20:15:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: rlgvax.2053
Posted: Mon Jun 25 20:15:54 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 30-Jun-84 02:12:48 EDT
References: <1211@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Organization: CCI Office Systems Group, Reston, VA
Lines: 20

A little UNIX(tm) trivia before the holy war gets out of hand.
-----
Category:  origin of command names.

	cat - an abbreviation for "CATch-all" -- like its namesake,
	      this command received all features which didn't clearly
	      belong anywhere else.

	pr  - an abbreviation for "Put everything heRe" -- the cat command
	      soon outgrew the limited address space of the PDP 11,
	      prompting the creation of this second "all purpose" command.

So, feel free to glom all the functionality you want onto these commands --
that's what they're there for.
-----
With ~17 options for S5 "pr" and ~8 options for 4.2BSD "cat", one begins
to wonder.

				Jack Slingwine
				{seismo,ihnp4,allegra}!rlgvax!jds