Introduction

UNIX lets you connect the stdout of one command with the stdin of another command. This is known as pipes.

Notes

• The most common use of pipes is to view output from a command with more because it scrolls off the screen too fast otherwise:

  
  % man -k shell
  
  (too much output!)
  
  % !! | more
  
  

• You can string as many commands as desired together with pipes:

  
  % cmd1 | cmd2 | cmd3 | cmd4
  
  

• This is often how UNIX's simple utility programs get combined to do complicated tasks.