[heavyset_go]

The command

    systemctl status *.mount

Just shows the status of all mount units.

It's the same command you'd use to check any other systemd unit, for example, if you want to check Docker's status:

   systemctl status docker.service

Seems consistent and discoverable as long as you have a surface understanding of systemd units.

[regularfry]

That to me reads as "show me the status of all files ending in .mount in the current directory". Once you start hijacking shell metacharacters you're on dodgy ground.

[heavyset_go]

It's not using the shell glob syntax, it's just a regex compatible string. The find utility does the same thing:

    find ~/Code -type f -name *.js

Where *.js isn't using the shell glob feature, it's just a regex compatible string.

You could put quotes around it to make it clearer:

    systemctl status "*.mount"

The string is matching on unit names, and the mount units have the .mount suffix.

[regularfry]

> Where *.js isn't using the shell glob feature, it's just a regex compatible string.

Except it isn't, because a `*` at the start of a regex is invalid. `-name` patterns given to `find` are explicitly shell glob patterns. You might be thinking of `-regex` patterns, which GNU find also has.

It's a bit shonky when `find` does it because it's not saying "the shell pattern applies in this directory", and I regularly trip over it. It's something special you've got to know about how `find` works, but at least it's still anchored to the idea of being searched in a path that's also part of the command. There's a semantic link there.

With `systemctl status *.mount` you've not even got that. What path is being searched for `*.mount` files? Is that path part of the `systemctl` interface? Or is this just another way that `systemctl` insists on being a special snowflake that someone's decided I now need to devote neurons to?