unix-cli-best-practices

Name: unix-cli-best-practices
Author: flutter

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How to install unix-cli-best-practices?

flutter/agent-plugins/unix-cli-best-practices

$npx -y skills add flutter/agent-plugins --skill unix-cli-best-practices

Installs into the current project.

Summary

Safe, portable, and efficient command-line patterns for macOS/BSD Unix tools (grep, find, sed, awk, xargs, mdfind, pbcopy, open) and modern alternatives (ripgrep, fd). Covers common shell scripting and one-liner use cases including fast searching, text processing, codebase naviga

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SKILL.md

1	# Unix CLI best practices
2
3	This guide provides efficient, safe, and portable techniques for manipulating text and finding files from the command line on macOS. By default, macOS uses BSD-derived UNIX utilities (`grep`, `find`, `sed`, `awk`) which have subtle differences from their GNU/Linux counterparts.
4
5	When possible, use high-performance replacements (`ripgrep` and `fd`) which respect `.gitignore` rules by default and offer more ergonomic interfaces.
6
7	## Modern high-performance alternatives
8
9	Use these tools instead of standard BSD utilities for local codebase operations.
10
11	### ripgrep (`rg`)
12
13	Use `ripgrep` (`rg`) as the preferred tool for searching text. It is faster than standard `grep` and respects `.gitignore` rules by default.
14
15	Common use cases:
16	* Run `rg 'search_term'` to recursively search the current directory.
17	* Run `rg -S 'term'` to search case-insensitively unless the query contains uppercase letters. Use `rg -i 'term'` for strict case-insensitivity.
18	* Run `rg -g '.ts' -g '!.spec.ts' 'term'` to search `.ts` files while excluding `.spec.ts` files.
19	* Run `rg -v 'ignore_me'` to print lines that do not match the pattern.
20	* Run `rg -l 'term'` to list only the names of matching files. Combine with `rg -0` for null-terminated output suitable for `xargs`.
21	* Run `rg -F 'foo()'` to treat the search pattern as a fixed string rather than a regular expression.
22	* Run `rg -w 'const'` to match whole words only.
23	* Run `rg -C 2 'term'` to show two lines of surrounding context. Use `rg -B 2` for preceding context or `rg -A 2` for succeeding context.
24
25	Refer to `rg --help` for the complete options list.
26
27	### fd
28
29	Use `fd` as the preferred tool for traversing the filesystem and finding files. It is faster than standard `find` and respects `.gitignore` rules by default.
30
31	Common use cases:
32	* Run `fd 'pattern'` to find files matching the regex pattern anywhere in their path.
33	* Run `fd -e py -e txt` to filter results by file extensions.
34	* Run `fd -t d 'docs'` to find directories. Use `fd -t f` for files and `fd -t l` for symbolic links.
35	* Run `fd -H` to include hidden files, or `fd -I` to include ignored files (such as `node_modules`). Combine as `fd -HI` to search all files.
36	* Run `fd -p 'src/assets'` to match the pattern against the full path instead of just the filename.
37	* Run `fd -e log -x rm` to execute a command on each matching file individually. Use `-X` (e.g., `fd -e log -X rm`) to run the command once with all matching files as arguments.
38	* Run `fd -a 'pattern'` to return absolute paths instead of relative paths.
39
40	Refer to `fd --help` for the complete options list.
41
42	## Built-in tools for macOS and BSD
43
44	Use these built-in utilities only when `rg` and `fd` are unavailable. Apply precise filters to prevent performance degradation.
45
46	### Efficient searching with grep
47
48	Do not use `grep \| grep -v 'unwanted_dir'` to exclude directories. This approach reads all files before filtering them. Use native exclusion arguments instead to exclude directories at the filesystem level:
49
50	```bash
51	# Slow: reads binary and ignored files
52	grep -R "pattern" . \| grep -v "node_modules"
53
54	# Fast: skips the directory completely at the filesystem level
55	grep -R --exclude-dir=node_modules --exclude-dir=.git "pattern" .
56	```
57
58	Common `grep` flags:
59	* `-r` or `-R` to search recursively. `-R` follows symbolic links, while `-r` does not.
60	* `-I` to ignore binary files for faster execution and clean output.
61	* `--exclude="*.min.js"` to ignore files matching a specific glob.
62	* `--include="*.dart"` to search only files matching a specific glob.
63	* `-l` to print only the names of files containing matches.
64	* `-Z` to print a null character after each filename, which is useful when piping to `xargs -0`.
65
66	Example of safely deleting files containing a specific string:
67	```bash
68	grep -rlZ -I --exclude-dir=node_modules "DEPRECATED_API" . \| xargs -0 rm
69	```
70
71	### High-performance traversal with find
72
73	Prevent `find` from traversing irrelevant directory trees by using the `-prune` option.
74
75	```bash
76	# Slow: traverses node_modules entirely, then filters output
77	find . -name "*.ts" \| grep -v "node_modules"
78
79	# Fast: skips node_modules entirely
80	find . -name "node_modules" -prune -o -name "*.ts" -print
81	```
82
83	The expression `-name "node_modules" -prune` stops traversal when encountering a `node_modules` directory. The `-o` (OR) operator specifies that for any other directory or file ending in `.ts`, the path is printed.
84
85	### macOS portability with sed
86
87	macOS uses BSD `sed`, which differs from GNU `sed` in its handling of in-place editing.
88
89	Use the `-i` option with an explicit backup extension. To edit in-place without creating

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unix-cli-best-practices

2.7kstars159forks

View on GitHub

How to install unix-cli-best-practices?

flutter/agent-plugins/unix-cli-best-practices

$npx -y skills add flutter/agent-plugins --skill unix-cli-best-practices

Installs into the current project.

Summary

Files · 1

View on GitHub

SKILL.md

1	# Unix CLI best practices
2
3	This guide provides efficient, safe, and portable techniques for manipulating text and finding files from the command line on macOS. By default, macOS uses BSD-derived UNIX utilities (`grep`, `find`, `sed`, `awk`) which have subtle differences from their GNU/Linux counterparts.
4
5	When possible, use high-performance replacements (`ripgrep` and `fd`) which respect `.gitignore` rules by default and offer more ergonomic interfaces.
6
7	## Modern high-performance alternatives
8
9	Use these tools instead of standard BSD utilities for local codebase operations.
10
11	### ripgrep (`rg`)
12
13	Use `ripgrep` (`rg`) as the preferred tool for searching text. It is faster than standard `grep` and respects `.gitignore` rules by default.
14
15	Common use cases:
16	* Run `rg 'search_term'` to recursively search the current directory.
17	* Run `rg -S 'term'` to search case-insensitively unless the query contains uppercase letters. Use `rg -i 'term'` for strict case-insensitivity.
18	* Run `rg -g '.ts' -g '!.spec.ts' 'term'` to search `.ts` files while excluding `.spec.ts` files.
19	* Run `rg -v 'ignore_me'` to print lines that do not match the pattern.
20	* Run `rg -l 'term'` to list only the names of matching files. Combine with `rg -0` for null-terminated output suitable for `xargs`.
21	* Run `rg -F 'foo()'` to treat the search pattern as a fixed string rather than a regular expression.
22	* Run `rg -w 'const'` to match whole words only.
23	* Run `rg -C 2 'term'` to show two lines of surrounding context. Use `rg -B 2` for preceding context or `rg -A 2` for succeeding context.
24
25	Refer to `rg --help` for the complete options list.
26
27	### fd
28
29	Use `fd` as the preferred tool for traversing the filesystem and finding files. It is faster than standard `find` and respects `.gitignore` rules by default.
30
31	Common use cases:
32	* Run `fd 'pattern'` to find files matching the regex pattern anywhere in their path.
33	* Run `fd -e py -e txt` to filter results by file extensions.
34	* Run `fd -t d 'docs'` to find directories. Use `fd -t f` for files and `fd -t l` for symbolic links.
35	* Run `fd -H` to include hidden files, or `fd -I` to include ignored files (such as `node_modules`). Combine as `fd -HI` to search all files.
36	* Run `fd -p 'src/assets'` to match the pattern against the full path instead of just the filename.
37	* Run `fd -e log -x rm` to execute a command on each matching file individually. Use `-X` (e.g., `fd -e log -X rm`) to run the command once with all matching files as arguments.
38	* Run `fd -a 'pattern'` to return absolute paths instead of relative paths.
39
40	Refer to `fd --help` for the complete options list.
41
42	## Built-in tools for macOS and BSD
43
44	Use these built-in utilities only when `rg` and `fd` are unavailable. Apply precise filters to prevent performance degradation.
45
46	### Efficient searching with grep
47
48	Do not use `grep \| grep -v 'unwanted_dir'` to exclude directories. This approach reads all files before filtering them. Use native exclusion arguments instead to exclude directories at the filesystem level:
49
50	```bash
51	# Slow: reads binary and ignored files
52	grep -R "pattern" . \| grep -v "node_modules"
53
54	# Fast: skips the directory completely at the filesystem level
55	grep -R --exclude-dir=node_modules --exclude-dir=.git "pattern" .
56	```
57
58	Common `grep` flags:
59	* `-r` or `-R` to search recursively. `-R` follows symbolic links, while `-r` does not.
60	* `-I` to ignore binary files for faster execution and clean output.
61	* `--exclude="*.min.js"` to ignore files matching a specific glob.
62	* `--include="*.dart"` to search only files matching a specific glob.
63	* `-l` to print only the names of files containing matches.
64	* `-Z` to print a null character after each filename, which is useful when piping to `xargs -0`.
65
66	Example of safely deleting files containing a specific string:
67	```bash
68	grep -rlZ -I --exclude-dir=node_modules "DEPRECATED_API" . \| xargs -0 rm
69	```
70
71	### High-performance traversal with find
72
73	Prevent `find` from traversing irrelevant directory trees by using the `-prune` option.
74
75	```bash
76	# Slow: traverses node_modules entirely, then filters output
77	find . -name "*.ts" \| grep -v "node_modules"
78
79	# Fast: skips node_modules entirely
80	find . -name "node_modules" -prune -o -name "*.ts" -print
81	```
82
83	The expression `-name "node_modules" -prune` stops traversal when encountering a `node_modules` directory. The `-o` (OR) operator specifies that for any other directory or file ending in `.ts`, the path is printed.
84
85	### macOS portability with sed
86
87	macOS uses BSD `sed`, which differs from GNU `sed` in its handling of in-place editing.
88
89	Use the `-i` option with an explicit backup extension. To edit in-place without creating

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