Also, if you have a long pipeline: cat file | this | that | other | out vs this < file | that | other | out In the cat example, it's easy to change the

Also, if you have a long pipeline: cat file | this | that | other | out vs this < file | that | other | out In the cat example, it's easy to change the head of the pipeline, by adding things before "this" or deleting "this", which is less so in the non-cat example. (The use case I have in mind is experimental commands that take probably <10s to complete, where editing time is a significant fraction of the time you spend.)