It is not grep's fault, you can get into trouble this way too: sed p * > xxx I used sed because cat * > xxx checks that the output is not in the inputs. Therefore: watch your wildcards. Ken -- UUCP: ..!{allegra,decvax,seismo}!rochester!ken ARPA: ken at rochester.arpa Snail: Comp. of Disp. Sci., U. of Roch., NY 14627. Voice: Ken!