UUOC

From S23Wiki

UUOC (from comp.unix.shell on Usenet) stands for "Useless Use of cat"; the reference is to the Unix command cat(1), not the 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)

Useless use of cat


also see: cat

This is the JargonFile (V4.47) entry for UUOC - Next: [[]], Prev: UTSL
:UUOC: [from the comp.unix.shell group on Usenet] Stands for Useless Use of cat; the reference is to the Unix command cat(1), not the feline animal. As received wisdom on comp.unix.shell observes, "The purpose of cat is to concatenate (or catenate) files. If its only one file, concatenating it with nothing at all is a waste of time, and costs you a process." Nevertheless one sees people doing
* (text is auto-included via JargonExtension by mutante using JargonFile VERSION 4.4.7, 29 DEC 2003 - JargonFile by Eric S. Raymond is in the public domain)


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