trying to get the following to output pgrep -f 'bash' | wc -l the var $xx has the cmd... something's missing to allow the backtics to run the cmd.. if the cmd is hadcoded.run, it works.. can't see what the homer simpson "doh" moment is! thanks #!/bin/bash # # ptest.sh # # use predefined variables to access passed arguments # # $1 aa=$1 aa='bash' echo $aa " pp" xx="pgrep -f '"${aa}"' | wc -l" echo $xx <<< this dsplays the test pgrep echo `$xx` << err msg echo `${xx}` << err msg... ## trying to get -- pgrep -f 'bash' | wc -l << ## i'm getting a Usage: pgrep [....] err msg.. _______________________________________________ users mailing list -- users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe send an email to users-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx