> but there's still a little annoyance - if the file size is an exact > multiple of the block size, it will generate an unnecessary zero-length > file at the end.
sometimes what should work, doesn't. that (and the whitespace) are why my version is longer. > i tried to fix it to get rid of this, but ran hard up against awk's > dismalness. to illustrate: > > % seq 106908504 106908509 | awk '{print $1 % 4}' this isn't awk's fault. awk gets the right result. you've illustrated the dismalness of seq. ladd; seq 106908504 106908509 1.069085e+08 1.069085e+08 1.069085e+08 1.069085e+08 1.069085e+08 1.069085e+08 ladd; seq -f %8.f 106908504 106908509 | awk '{print $1 % 4}' 0 1 2 3 0 1 - erik