On Tue, Apr 02, 2013 at 01:29:11PM +0200, markus schnalke wrote: > [2013-04-02 15:23] Sam Watkins <s...@nipl.net> > > > > I suggest to extend your program so it can also print a range of lines > > (and thus subsume the functions of 'head' and 'tail' while doing more > > and yet staying fairly focused). You could perhaps use negative numbers > > to count back from the final line. It should be able to cut off 6 lines > > from the end of a file, or print from lines 10 through to the 2nd-last line. > > Please don't write this tool as it is already available: ed(1): > > echo '1,$-6p' | ed - "$1" > echo '10,$--p' | ed - "$1" > > Better learn about software leverage!
Well in many cases ed is not suitable for this job - large files, streaming input - and this reads better: lines 1 -6 I was suggesting how the OP might make his tool more useful and flexible - rather than just discouraging him "sed does that!". Anyway this is tedious so I'll stop arguing.
