An odd difference between 'cat file' - (nf)

[johnl at haddock.UUCP]

#R:opus:-36700:haddock:16700020:000:754
haddock!johnl    Apr 18 11:47:00 1984

>  The reason that ``cat xyz*'' is expanded and ``cat <xyz*''
>is not has to do with the C getchar() call.  cat takes any
>arguments on the command line that don't start with a ``-'',
>expands them, and interprets them as filenames.  However, if
>you use the ``<'' before the filename, the filename is actually
>used as stdin and the filename is not put on the command line.
>Therefore, cat thinks that you are typing in somthing from the
>terminal.  Hope this helps.

I wish that people who don't have the faintest idea what they're talking
about would avoid "help" like this.  Read the manual entry on the shell.

(Sorry if this seems rude, but this is without a doubt the wrongest
explanation of anything that I've ever seen.)

John Levine, ima!johnl