Andrew Reid wrote: > > deloptes wrote: > > > cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep EE > > > > What's the purpose of this superfluous "cat" (and the pipe)? > > > > grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log > > I noticed that too -- I actually do this all the time, and I'm > not 100% sure why. It's true that sometimes the input to grep is > not a file, but the output of some script. > > I can rationalize that "(thing-which-generates-data) | grep (pattern)" > will *always* work, and is thus preferred to "grep (pattern) (thing)", > which only works on files, but I don't really know if that's the > reason. There is no reason for it. People just do silly things. This one has been persisting on the net for years. And there has been an awared called the Useless Use of Cat award just for that purpose. http://www.google.com/search?q=useless+use+of+cat That gratuitiously extra cat process is just wasteful and inefficient. Don't do it! Bob
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