>> FreeBSD ran.psg.com 10.0-CURRENT FreeBSD 10.0-CURRENT #4: Sat Dec 24 12:33:51 UTC 2011 root at ran.psg.com:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/RAN amd64 >> >> % echo foo | grep foo >> % > > What about 'grep -V'? Or 'which grep'? turns out that a zero length grep had been installed updated to new sources, rebuilt, and it's all good. randy