[Gllug] Neat trick with compressed files

John Winters john at sinodun.org.uk
Fri Aug 27 13:45:20 UTC 2004


I just came across something which I feel I have to share.  Doubtless
everyone else will tell me that it's really old news...

For I don't know how long I've been reading compressed documentation
files (README.gz etc) with zmore.  This is OK-ish, but not as versatile
as is sometimes needed.  When I wanted a better browse I would copy the
file to my own directory, uncompress it and use vi.

$ cp /usr/share/doc/<mumble>/README.gz .
$ gunzip README.gz
$ vi README
$ rm README 		# If I remembered

I've always had a vague intention to write a script to automate this. 
Just today however I accidentally typed:

$ vi /usr/share/doc/<mumble>/README.gz

(I was using tab completion and didn't realise it was a .gz file) and
pow!, vi reads it just fine.

So, in case anyone else has been struggling round in the dark like me,
I'm sharing my discovery.

John

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