Tricky, interesting idea. Now, how about doing it for real? This solution isn't really CPU friendly (process spawning, as you have said). Is the idea of default argument values OK? Or are there any design decisions involved that I am not aware of (yet)? Again, many thanks for suggestion! b. <div class="gmail_quote">On 4 November 2010 18:19, Jochen Bern <<a href="mailto:Jochen.Bern@linworks.de">Jochen.Bern@linworks.de</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="im">On 11/04/2010 03:50 PM, Bostjan Skufca wrote: > I was wondering if it is possible (or would be easy to implement) default > values for nagios check commands. </div>Well, if you don't mind the extra subshells, it's already "implemented": # tail -22 commands-misc.cfg define command{ command_name check_defaults command_line echo "OK - value A is `echo $ARG1$ 2000 | awk '{ print $$1 }'`, value B is `echo $ARG2$ 5000 | awk '{ print $$1 }'`" } define service { use generic-service host_name Nagios service_description Defaults - 0 check_command check_defaults } define service { use generic-service host_name Nagios service_description Defaults - 1 check_command check_defaults!foo } define service { use generic-service host_name Nagios service_description Defaults - 2 check_command check_defaults!foo!bar } # grep value ../../var/spool/status.dat plugin_output=OK - value A is 2000, value B is 5000 plugin_output=OK - value A is foo, value B is 5000 plugin_output=OK - value A is foo, value B is bar Kind regards, J. Bern -- Jochen Bern, Systemingenieur --- LINworks GmbH <<a href="http://www.LINworks.de/" target="_blank">http://www.LINworks.de/</a>> Postfach 100121, 64201 Darmstadt | Robert-Koch-Str. 9, 64331 Weiterstadt PGP (1024D/4096g) FP = D18B 41B1 16C0 11BA 7F8C DCF7 E1D5 FAF4 444E 1C27 Tel. +49 6151 9067-231, Zentr. -0, Fax -299 - Amtsg. Darmstadt HRB 85202 Unternehmenssitz Weiterstadt, Geschäftsführer Metin Dogan, Oliver Michel </blockquote></div>