Re: Why the is output of ls direct to screen and rediect to file different?

[James Youngman]

On 4/7/07, Tomthon <address@hidden> wrote:
> I have use  '>' redirect the output of ls to a file,and then cat the file to 
> screen,but the record is comparted by carriage return,not the same as ls directly 
> to sreen?What's the reason?

I will answer your question with a question, if I may.   How many
columns are available in an as-yet-empty output file?   There's no
obvious answer.  Therefore there is no obvious width at which the
output should wrap.   Also, data sent to a file is frequently read by
another program for further processing.  If that is happening, one
filename per line is probably a convenient choice.

James.