An Oldie but Goodie – Christmas Song for Unix Hackers


better !pout !cry
better watchout
lpr why
santa claus < north pole >town


cat /etc/passwd >list
ncheck list
ncheck list
cat list | grep naughty >nogiftlist
cat list | grep nice >giftlist
santa claus < north pole >town


who | grep sleeping
who | grep awake
who | egrep ‘bad|good’
for (goodness sake) {
     be good
     }

by Frank Carey, AT&T Bell Laboratories, 1985

Translation:

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

You’d better watch out, you’d better not cry;
You’d better not pout, I’m telling you why;
Santa Claus is coming to town.

He’s checking his list, checking it twice;
Going to find out who’s been naughty and nice.
Santa Claus is coming to town.

He knows who is sleeping, he knows who is awake.
He knows who has been bad or good;
So be good for goodness sake.

You’d better watch out, you’d better not cry;
You’d better not pout, I’m telling you why;
Santa Claus is coming to town.

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