Funny Unix Shell Commands

Vassilios Karakoidas
2 min readJul 1, 2024

Found this accidentally in my backups :) … do not remember when i originally found this.

Here is a list I compiled of UNIX commands that return witty error messages.
Some of the commands don't return the same error messages, depending upon
which OS you're running (ie SunOS, HP/UX, Ultrix, etc.). Have fun!

%make fire
Make: Don't know how to make fire. Stop.

% why not?
No match.

% gotta light?
No match.

% !1984
1984: Event not found. # (on some systems)

% How's my lovemaking?
Unmatched '.

% "How would you rate Bush's incompetence?
Unmatched ".

% [Where is Jimmy Hoffa?
Missing ].

% [Where is my brain?
Missing ].

% If I had a ( for every $ Congress spent, what would I have?
Too many ('s.

% man: why did you get a divorce?
man:: Too many arguments.

% \(-
(-: Command not found.

$ mkdir matter; cat >matter
matter: cannot create

% cd /tmp
% touch this; chmod 000 this
% ln -s /usr/bin/touch U
% U this
U: cannot touch this: no write permission

% rm meese-ethics
rm: meese-ethics nonexistent

% cd ~god
Unknown user: god.

% ar m God
ar: God does not exist

% make love
Make: Don't know how to make love. Stop.

% sleep with me
bad character

% ^What is saccharine?
Bad substitute.

% drink yellow_pages
yellow_pages: Is a directory

%touch me
%chmod 000 me
%touch me
touch: cannot touch me: permission denied

% ar x "my love life"
ar: my love life does not exist

% ar x "matey, the treasure"
ar…

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Vassilios Karakoidas

Software Engineer, Software Architect, Researcher. Opinions are my own.