hey... the following test works.. ssh user_foo@1.2.3.4 pgrep -f 'master_app' | wc -l however, i realized that in some cases I was seeing a "ssh connection timeout" so I looked into how to capture the complete STDERR from the local side. ssh user_foo@1.2.3.4 "pgrep -f 'master_app' | wc -l " 1>&2 runs but not sure it will actually do what I want... any thoughts? net searching/SO hasn't given me the doh moment yet.. thanks _______________________________________________ users mailing list -- users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe send an email to users-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx