> % echo foo.c | 9 grep '*\.c' correct. match \.c as a literal string. there is no match.
> % echo foo.c | 9 grep '*.c' > foo.c correct. match .c as a littal string. there is a match. > % echo fooxc | 9 grep '*.c' > % > % echo fooxc | 9 grep '.*.c' > fooxc correct. match 0-n any character then 1 any character then a c. there is a match. > % echo fooxc | 9 grep '.*\.c' correct. this time there's no match because '.' is treated as a literal not a pattern. > % echo foo.c | 9 grep '.*\.c' > foo.c correct. match 0-n any characters, then a literal '.' then literal 'c'. there is a match. > % echo foo.c | 9 grep '*foo.c' > foo.c correct. match the literal string foo.c. there is a match. remember that the match doesn't have to be anchored by default, so i sometimes do this grep $somesym `{find /sys/src|grep '\.[chys]$'} this is also packaged up in the local version of 'g'; this would be equivalent g $somesym /sys/src - erik