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From: rwl@uvacs.UUCP (Ray Lubinsky)
Newsgroups: net.unix,net.bugs
Subject: Re: Re: echo command always prints its arguments
Message-ID: <2027@uvacs.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 12-Apr-85 23:25:07 EST
Article-I.D.: uvacs.2027
Posted: Fri Apr 12 23:25:07 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 15-Apr-85 05:46:33 EST
References: <797@u1100a.UUCP>, <254@tellab3.UUCP> <1581@ukma.UUCP>
Organization: U.Va. CS in Charlottesville, VA
Lines: 29
Xref: watmath net.unix:4247 net.bugs:609

> >Shouldn't this be in net.jokes?  If echo didn't print its arguments,
> >what good would it be?!?  I mean, what else does your version do?
> >Can you give me an example of how you would use your `-q' option?
> 
> Ok....
> 
> 	echo -q This creates an empty file >new.file
> 
> Since, with csh, there is no longer an easy way to create an empty
> file.  (With sh one could type just ">new.file").
> 
---

A few people have mentioned just using   cp /dev/null new.file   but of course
this only works for one file at a time.  I've had a script around for a while 
called "wipe" that will create an arbitrary number of zero-length files:

			#! /bin/sh
			exec /bin/tee $* < /dev/null

[BTW, I hadn't looked at the date of the original posting, either.  I must
have been reading it before my morning's coffee because I can remember
puzzling for a good 30 seconds over why you'd want an echo that didn't print
its arguments. :-)]
-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ray Lubinsky		     University of Virginia, Dept. of Computer Science
			     uucp: decvax!mcnc!ncsu!uvacs!rwl