Jeff Woods ([log in to unmask]) wrote: : The "tar" command doesn't read a list of files from stdin; it takes them : as arguments on the command line. cpio reads from stdin. : "cat" to insert the contents of the indirect file into the command-line: : tar cvf test.tar $(cat indirect.file) Never ever use cat for this, unless you want to copy from a file to file. Or combine several files. Just use "<": tar -cvf test.tar $(< indirect.file) * To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, * * etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *