* Charles Nadeau <charles [ dot ] nadeau [ at ] gmail [ dot ] com> [081028 18:48]: > \a\b\c or d\picture1.jpg > \a\b\cord\picture2.jpg > \a\z\c or d\picture3.jpg > \a\bc\c or d\picture4.jpg > \a\bhhj\cor d\picture5.jpg Could it be getting confused because of the \\ ? Could you try to tr '\\' / first and then run your grep -v command? -Bart -- WebSig: http://www.jukie.net/~bart/sig/