Doug McIlroy scripsit: Yes, I meant that the meaning of | was never anything but "or" until it came to be used as "pipe" (not only in shells but also in Perl and other places), not that the representation of "or" has never been anything but |. I can't imagine anyone would do so until it was available. The Algol 60 committee is a special case, with its distinction between publication language, reference language, and implementation language. The reference language used ∨ (hence the proposed \/ convention); the existing implementations use either "or" as a reserved word or else |. -- John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan(a)ccil.org I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led. And through the air. I am he that walks unseen. I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly. I was chosen for the lucky number. --Bilbo

Tony Finch scripsit: I don't think anyone ever has used them; they were just a suggestion by Bemer which induced him to lobby for \ in ASCII-63. -- John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan cowan(a)ccil.org The present impossibility of giving a scientific explanation is no proof that there is no scientific explanation. The unexplained is not to be identified with the unexplainable, and the strange and extraordinary nature of a fact is not a justification for attributing it to powers above nature. --The Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. "telepathy" (1913)