[jb_daefo]

[solved... for the most part. Q remains
but is irrelevant...]

cat file | xargs ...locate
tail -20 file | xargs ...locate
for i in $( tail -20 file | awk ...) ; do ....

All the pipes/oneliners which work here
for binaries other than locate, seem to
return no results with no 0, 1,
status message, etc, OR every file in the
entire filesytem.

Only asking here because I found and saved
multiple .htm which almost, but did not,
solve the problem ...

In about three hours I could probably craft a
.pl that worked, but it seems it should work at
the command line...

/edit/ found most of the files on backup. A one liner
restored them... if I figure correctly.

Just in case anyone knows anything.

Thanks!