[5701] in Athena Bugs
rt 7.0F: head & tail
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (sethf@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Sat Aug 11 19:42:53 1990
From: sethf@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
To: bugs@ATHENA.MIT.EDU
Date: Sat, 11 Aug 90 19:42:39 EDT
System name: frumious-bandersnatch
Type and version: RTPC-ROMPC 7.0F
Display type: apa16
What were you trying to do?
Quickly compare two massive files supposedly containing the same
end data. The results were obtained by two different methods of
processing. I was attempting to do a fast, simple visual check rather
than a diff -h.
What's wrong:
head foo bar produces
==> foo <==
<head of foo>
==> bar <==
<head of bar>
while
tail foo bar produces
<just tail of foo>
This is the documented behavior, but it strikes me as inconsistent.
What should have happened:
I'd like to see tail's behavior in this case be more like that
of head.
Please describe any relevant documentation references:
head(1), tail(1)
