In article <431 at ncsc1.AT&T.NCSC> dgp at ncsc1.AT&T.NCSC (Dennis Pelton CSM Contractor x8876) writes: >Why is it that the following does NOT work? > date +'%H %M %S' | read hrs min sec Because the shell built-in "read" runs in a subshell due to the pipeline. You're setting the variables in a subshell, all right, but that isn't what you wanted.