The Unix Haters' Handbook

[Sridhar Ayengar]

John Floren wrote:
> Complaints about how Unix is "silent" when there is no output--"grep"
> returning nothing instead of saying "No matches" when there aren't any
> matches--these are basically invalid. They're the kind of thing people
> who don't use or understand pipes will say.

That's bull.  There are ways to make grep output something like "No 
matches" without breaking a pipeline that uses it.  I suggest that 
perhaps those who say "They're the kind of thing people who don't use or 
understand pipes will say." are the ones who truly don't understand pipes.

Peace...  Sridhar