4 ms·

It's possible to avoid `cat` and still keep the filename separate from the rest of the command by placing the redirection at the start of the command: < /t

• monsieurbanana 4y ago
  I don't know about you, but I usually like seeing what's in the file before I spend time writing a awk command on it. cat myfile.txt # check the file because I'm not even sure that's the correct name cat myfile.txt | awk blablabla # no I didn't forget awk syntax, I swear I would be afraid of any person that after this, goes back and rewrites the beginning of the line to replace cat with a redirection. Even with "ctrl-a alt-d < alt-f alt-f ctrl-d ctrl-d ctrl-e" that replaces cat with < and removes the pipe, which any emacs user can pull off in it's sleep
  • prmoustache 4y ago
    I usually use head or less for that. Using cat for first look is usually looking for trouble if the file is huge or some binary file.
  • Beltalowda 4y ago
    If you use zsh then just "<myfile.txt" should work too, which opens the file in $PAGER. Doesn't seem to work in bash though, with the default config anyway, but maybe it can be configured. I don't care if people use "cat" or "<" and the whole "useless use of cat" is stupid >99% of the time, but I've gotten in to the habit of using <file as it's shorter to type ("<file cmd" vs. "cat file | cmd").