> > the find ... | xargs ... is:
> ...
> > 	(2) is portable to any POSIX system,
> 
> How many different systems are we concerned with?  I can only think of 
> 1...  :)

uh, I, for one, work with ... at least 5 different UNIX variants on a
regular basis, some of which i have source code for, some of which i
don't.  Adding a feature to 'grep' on one of them won't help me on any
of the others, and i won't use it...

> > 	(3) is more flexible (both because of find's flexibility, and
> > 	    because you can do a lot with a pipeline).
> 
> This is true.  But find ... | xargs ... can't be argued to be more 
> intuitive than grep, and certainly not easier to use.  

If you're using multiple systems, and you want the 'way you work' to
be portable between them, them 'recursive grep' is _impossible_ to use.


> In short:  Unix wizards might despise the idea of a recursive grep, but 
> it is something that everyone else really needs and could use.  

i think the answer here is: if you're not willing to learn the basic
UNIX tools (and find and xargs _are_ basic UNIX tools), why the hell
are you running UNIX?

If you want a mac, go use a mac.  some of the advantages of UNIX
include:
	(1) ability to pipe data between programs easily,
	(2) simple tools that are easily used in pipelines, and
	(3) mostly-standard interfaces to standard tools.

why screw with it?


chris