From 0353cf8f3bebee9fe64c3f152545f0e4b5c42aa2 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: koalaman <vidar@vidarholen.net>
Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2014 16:52:55 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Created SC2026 (markdown)

---
 SC2026.md | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 24 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 SC2026.md

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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.
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