cat /dev/urandom

[Michael Beattie]

On 7/26/05, Matt Juszczak <matt at atopia.net> wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> Quick question.
> 
> shell# cat /dev/urandom
> 
> can that executed as root cause any harm to the system?  What if a random
> sequence of `rm *` was generated... would it be executed?
> 
> I tried that to fix my terminal and forgot it might cause damage as root,
> even if its just being cat'd to the screen.  I thought I saw some files
> fly by which would indicate an execution of `ls`....
> 
> Just curious....
> 

If you had a file with an rm * in it and you cat'd it would it execute?