Re:Moreutils – Unix tools that nobody thought to write (2012)
by burntsushi on Sunday August 23, 2020 @08:39AM
(#24251478)
Interesting. Hmm. Not quite sure how to combat that one. The issue is that even though ripgrep is not POSIX compatible, it can pretty easily replace grep in most or all circumstances. The similarities between the tools are, for example, much greater than their differences. I know for me at least, I don't ever run grep interactively. The only time I ever use it is in shell scripts.
I have actually read a few of your (great) articles about ripgrep. I hope I didn’t come off as dismissive of your impressive work - though rereading my comment I should perhaps have chosen my wordS a bit more thoughtfully.
I did know that RG would skip more files than normal grep, so I guess I knew it’s not a safe replacement for all shell scripts.
But other than that, I’ve never thought of AG or RG as tools that brings something new to the table. I’ve always thought of them as a drop ins, with slightly new defaults and much faster speed. And the discussion related to TFA is tools that are missing, not tools that are better.
Maybe it’s a mix of the name and countess blog posts telling readers to use RG instead of GREP, that lead me to consider RG as a better grep and not a different tool.