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Dt: Duck tape for your Unix pipes

dt.plumbing

161–162 of 162 posts

Re: Dt: Duck tape for your Unix pipes

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Null separators between fields is structured data. It might just be the simplest that can possibly work (because the null character is outside the normal data range for text, unlike the newline, which demonstrably doesn't work in that sense) but it is structure. A list structure, specifically. The world would be a much happier place if -print0 (or whatever) was universal, but no such luck.

The painful part of all this is that there were and still are actual record separator and field separator characters in ASCII. ASCII was perfect for table output. All tools had to do when outputting is use the standard existing characters when no TTY is detected, else use tabs/spaces and newlines. I always wondered why no one uses the ASCII rs and FS codes.

That ... is an excellent question.

Re: Dt: Duck tape for your Unix pipes

#162
post #56
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TIL that " duck tape" is actually the correct/original version, and " duct tape" is a modern derivative. I had always assumed it was the other way round, and some people simply don't know what a duct is so they substitute a similar-sounding, more common word.

Sounds like “duck tape” is adhesive fabric tape (maybe water resistant?) and “duct tape” is shiny metal tape for connecting air ducting? And both names are used informally for either or both types of tape by most of the population? And then so many people post “facts” about a clearly fuzzy issue and proceed to argue about who’s “right”. I’m getting real blegg/rube vibes from the whole argument here.

I believe it's professionally called foil tape, or sometimes HVAC tape, to distinguish the two. In product listings, you often see seohacks like "HVAC foil sealer duct tape", because consumers still search for duct tape.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/3M-2-5-in-W-x-150-ft-L-HVAC-Tape/40...

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