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Re:A shell colon does nothing. Use it anyway. by refp on Sunday July 26, 2026 @01:59AM (#49055190)
Hey jiveturkey, author here!

I agree with you, and for what it's worth the truncation snippet is very much tongue-in-cheek much like `( : >> output ) && echo "is writable"`.

I wasn't expecting anyone to actually use these in Prod, rather I aimed to show what can be done with a command designed to.. do nothing (crazy).

Happy you enjoyed the article, and thank you!

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