Created SC2026 (markdown)

koalaman
2014-04-05 16:52:55 -07:00
parent 485da25d28
commit 0353cf8f3b

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SC2026.md Normal file

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## Consider using grep -c instead of grep|wc.
### Problematic code:
grep foo | wc -l
### Correct code:
grep -c foo
### Rationale:
This is purely a stylistic issue. `grep` can count lines without piping to `wc`.
Note that in many cases, this number is only used to see whether there are matches (i.e. `> 0`). In these cases, it's better and more efficient to use `grep -q` and check its exit status:
if grep -q pattern file
then
echo "The file contains the pattern"
fi
### Contraindications
If you e.g. want to count characters instead of lines, and you actually care about the number and not just whether it's greater than 0.