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Diffstat (limited to 'sysutils/vip/DESCR')
| -rw-r--r-- | sysutils/vip/DESCR | 23 |
1 files changed, 23 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/sysutils/vip/DESCR b/sysutils/vip/DESCR new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..a756244b684 --- /dev/null +++ b/sysutils/vip/DESCR @@ -0,0 +1,23 @@ +Normally, in a pipeline, when you need to edit some phase of the data +stream, you use a standard tool such as sed, grep, or awk to alter, +filter, or otherwise manipulate the stream. One potential problem with +this approach is that the manipulations have to be very well thought out +in advance. Another is that the manipulations will probably need to be +applied uniformly. And third, the data must be very well understood in +advance. Not all situations and data easily conform to these +constraints. + +Alternatively, when the changes needed for the data are more than +trivial, or perhaps you just don't feel like expending the mental energy +needed to work out all the expressions in advance, a typical approach +might be to run some process or pipeline, dump output to a file, edit +the file with vi, pico, or emacs, then push the data along to the next +phase by using the file as input to some additional process or pipeline. +The catch here - other than the sheer awkwardness of this process - is +that you have to remember to come back later and clean up all of those +little and not-so-little "temporary" files. + +So, wouldn't you just like to be able to tap in an edit session at any +arbitrary point in the pipeline, do your magic on the data, then have it +automagically continue on its merry way? The vip program provides this +functionality, and operates syntactically just like any other filter. |