gistfile1.txt

#Notes in response to http://bit.ly/1fFMKIx (really cool blog)

output=$(fgrep -c CRON /var/log/messages) #grave accent notation is depreciated
                                          ##no reason for 2 pipes when 0 will do
                                          #if you're not using regex, use fgrep
if [[ -n ${output} ]];then                #we can avoid the `local` issue by just checking the existence
    echo "Found ${output}..."             #of output
    #exit 0                               #you can set your exit status explicitly, but not a big deal
else
    echo "No instances of..."
    #exit 1
fi