martin f krafft wrote: > > can anyone please explain this to me? > > seamus:/usr/local/share/phpgw# find . -name Root | xargs vi > 221 files to edit > Vim: Warning: Input is not from a terminal > > seamus:/usr/local/share/phpgw# vi `find . -name Root` > 221 files to edit > > how the heck does vi get the difference between the two methods of > calling it...
in the first case, vi is inheriting the standard input from his parent process, xargs. the standard input of xargs is the pipe coming from find, which is not a terminal... in the second case, vi is inheriting the standard input from his parent process, the shell, which is actually connected to a terminal, and everything works fine. pietro.