5 ms·
Is it worth learning grep or ack or a similar tool? When I need to do these sort of tasks, I do them in a scripting language with some combination of split() a
by GlennS 14y ago
Is it worth learning grep or ack or a similar tool?
When I need to do these sort of tasks, I do them in a scripting language with some combination of split() and regex instead of using command line tools. But, I'm just doing that because it's what I know.
Would I end up saving a significant amount of time if I learned to use grep instead?
- bradsmithinc 14y agoYes!
- grabastic 14y agoI'd say start with ack for its ease of use, but knowing grep is important. I prefer ack but most of the boxes i work on don't have ack installed (and won't).
- grabastic 14y agoAlso, these aren't particularly good examples of ack vs grep... as others have pointed out.
- wonderzombie 14y agoIn my opinion, yes, it is. grep is fast and versatile. Shell tools in general are relatively simple or at least specialized, and they're built to be composed in novel/useful ways. The interface between all of these is text, aka data, aka what is arguably the simplest interface.