UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi there
I know that this isn't the place to put a question like this i supose, but i'm geting desperated. I have searched in interbase forums and nothing helped. If anyone can help me i would apreciated.
I'm using HP-UX with a version 3 of interbase wich means i can't split the backup file into several more. Since i'm trying to backup a database wich have about 6GB, i need to automate the process and make gbak split the files with size lower than 2GB.

I was trying to use this:

gbak -b -v mydb.gdb stdout | split -b mydb.bak1 2g mydb.bak2 2g mydb.bak3

the problem is that this creates a file named stdout and when it get's 2,1GB it colapses. It should output to the first backup file (mydb.bak1) instead of creating a file named stdout.

What am i doing wrong? is there any other way to achive this?

Thanks for any help

I have been looking and searching and i have come up with another question.
Is it possible that it doesn't exist de device /dev/stdout in my system? if it doen't exist, is it possible to creat it?
I think that's why stdout creates a file instead of piping it to the backup files.

Hi there
I'm trying to understand how "|" works.
well, say for instance :

who | wc -l

my question is, does the second command wait for the first to finish or will it interact with the first and process as it gets input from the first?

Another question is about stdout in HP-UX.
I have looked up and found that in a RedHat Linux for instance, exists the device "/dev/stdout" , and i can use it to send output instead to a file. But there is no such device in my HP-UX system.
Simply doesn't exist. Is there an alternative for stdout or is there a way to create this device?
what i realy need is to execute a command and send the output to stdout so that another command gets the stdin and process it.

thanks

in unix, the concept is that "everything is a file." most programs are written to take input, and give output. and this is usually plain output dumped to the terminal. now, if every program is written to take input when run, and expel output when run, you can see how you can connect two programs together with the | pipe.