An article on refp.se explores the shell colon operator, a programming technique that performs no operation but can still be used in shell scripts. The piece has circulated on both Lobsters and Hacker News frontpage.
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A shell colon does nothing. Use it anyway https://lobste.rs/s/eidh3u #programming I've written more shell scripts than I can count, but I still stumble upon tricks that honestly blow my mind far too often than I care to admit. Latest thing that blew my head clean off? The shell colon.