At first I thought very big rc variables seem to become strangely corrupted.
% for(i in `{seq 1000}) { echo 0123456789 >> f } % ifs='' {x=`{cat f}} % echo -n $x > f2 % diff f f2 745c745 < 0123456789 --- > 01234567 9 But the bug seems to be in `{ } because replacing the use of the x var with simply: % ifs='' { echo -n `{cat f} > f2} Produces the same results. Longer strings get more random(?) characters 'blanked'. The results are identical in p9p and native plan9. I looked a bit around the rc source that seemed relevant, but didn't see any obvious errors, but I don't fully understand the code. Peace uriel