UUOC (from comp.unix.shell on [[Usenet]]) stands for "Useless Use of cat"; the reference is to the [[Unix]] command [[cat]](1), not the [[Panthera|feline]] animal. As received wisdom on comp.unix.shell observes, "The purpose of cat is to concatenate (or 'catenate') files. If it's only one file, concatenating it with nothing at all is a waste of time, and costs you a process." Nevertheless one sees people doing
cat file | some_command and its args ...
instead of the equivalent and cheaper
<file some_command and its args ...
from [[Wikipedia:Cat (Unix)]]
[http://sial.org/code/shell/tips/useless-cat/ Useless use of cat]
also see: [[cat]]
[[Category:Unix]]
[[Category:Jargon]]
Revision as of 06:59, 14 November 2007
<jargon />
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