I had 3 files  matching “isi.*.02p0:

I wanted to combine them into one big file, while knowing *not* to cat into a file with same name as an original file,

 I did this:

But it never returned!! 

By the time I hit Ctrl-C, the file isi.Rall.0400.02p0 was already 3000 times bigger than the biggest of the original files.

A hidden loop was made. 

Because the destination file was created before concatenation started, it became a match for the

pattern "isi.*.02p0”.

It might be worth adding a warning about this on the  cat man-page ??

Cheers,

— Peter Rowat