Re: Origins of "dd"

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1 total messages Started by gr... Gregory TRAVIS Thu, 19 Apr 1990 20:02

#2481

Author: gr... Gregory TRAVIS
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 1990 20:02

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dd stands for "Copy and Convert," since it was used, initially, to move
files from the big 360s at Bell Labs to the PDP-11s running UNIX (via
mag tape).  They couldn't use the logical letters "cc" because they were
already used by another program, so they used the next letters alphabetically.

Its an exercise for the reader to determine which command got the
"cc" letters first.  Smiley.

greg



-- 
Gregory R. Travis                Indiana University, Bloomington IN 47405
gr...@cica.cica.indiana.edu       Center for Innovative Computer Applications

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