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That's right regarding directly giving the filename for the program (here wc) to open itself. However using the input redirect is fine, especially if you forma
by navaati 7y ago
That's right regarding directly giving the filename for the program (here wc) to open itself.
However using the input redirect is fine, especially if you format it that way (which is exactly the same thing):
<file wc -l
Then, adding another step is as natural as with cat:
<file grep meh |wc -l
- thestoicattack 7y agoUseless use of `wc` :) <file grep -c meh
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- herpderperator 7y agoI am confused. What's wrong with `wc -l < file | ... | ...`? I know `< file wc -l | ... | ...` is identical because the redirection is done before the command is executed, but what does putting it in front help with?
- emj 7y agoYou can easily change that first command with muscle memory. That's why I use cat $file| but I guess <$file would work too.
- emmelaich 7y agoAs per James Taylor's comment above, using cat means you can easily replace it with head e.g. for testing. And not change anything else in the pipeline.
- squiggleblaz 7y agoBecause I feel the other answers, though correct, are entirely missing out on clarity: The first iteration looks like this: <file head -n10 | grep foo | tr baz qux The second iteration looks like this: <file gzcat | head -n10 | grep foo | tr baz qux It makes the change much easier, since the first thing written is the first thing that happens. In `gzcat < file`, the logical first step - reading and streaming file - is now the physical second step. Like a German sentence, whenever you want to prepend the file, you have to maintain an item in second position.
- scarejunba 7y ago25 years using shells and I never thought to place input redirection at the front. Well, thank you!