The other command could just be printf '' >> file to not overwrite it. Or even simpler >>file and then interrupt
or :>>file then you don't need to interrupt
.“:>>” is “append null” right? Do you get a file with a single ASCII NUL or is it truly empty?
Not really. I believe : is the "true" builtin. So it's like running a program that exits with zero and writes nothing to stdout. The >> streams the empty stdout into the named file.
The other command could just be
printf '' >> fileto not overwrite it. Or even simpler>>fileand then interruptor
:>>filethen you don't need to interrupt.“:>>” is “append null” right? Do you get a file with a single ASCII NUL or is it truly empty?
Not really. I believe : is the "true" builtin. So it's like running a program that exits with zero and writes nothing to stdout. The >> streams the empty stdout into the named file.
$ :|wc -c 0 $ touch /tmp/f; :>>/tmp/f; wc -c /tmp/f 0 /tmp/f
that's awesome, did not know about that handy operator!
Yeah!
it's basically a noop, I use it as a placeholder when I'm writing a script, since bash doesn't accept code blocks with no commands