Start all of your commands with a comma

I didn't like the idea. I prefer the alternative approach: _I_ decide the order of dirs in the PATH env. If I introduce an executable with a name, that overrides a system one - I probably do that intentionally.

If I introduce an alias (like `grep='grep --binary-files=without-match --ignore-case --color=auto`) that matches the name of a system binary - I probably do that intentionally.

And if I EVER need to call grep without my alias - I just prefix it with a backslash: \grep will search with case sensitivity and no color and will scan binaries.

Prefixing commands solves the namespace problem and discoverability (at least partly). I use a slightly more sophisticated method, which helps me remember which custom utilities are available and how to use them: sd [1], a light wrapper written for zsh that, in addition to namespaces, provides autocompletion, custom help texts + some other QoL enhancements. Can definitely recommend if you're looking for something a bit more fancy.

[1] https://github.com/ianthehenry/sd

Nice although I think the ASCII comma feels wrong as part of a filename even if for purely aesthetic reasons.

If we want to stay within (lowercase) alphabetic Latin characters I think prefixing with the least common letters or bigrams that start a word (x, q, y, z, j) is best.

`y' for instance only autocompletes to `yes' and `ypdomainname' on my path.

Choosing a unique bigram is actually quite easy and a fun exercise.

And we can always use uppercase Latin letters since commands very rarely use never mind start with those.

Most of my aliases contain `--` for the same reason, `git--progress`, `grep--rIn`, `nvidia--kill`, `ollama--restart`, `rsync--cp`, `pdf--nup`...

Easy autocomplete, I know there won't be any collision, and which command is mine.

I would have never thought of that. Funny that a comma can be used like that.

Off-topic: What the hell is that font on this website? And why does the "a" look like that?

    Every tool and shell that lay in arm's reach treated the comma as a perfectly normal and unobjectionable character in a filename.

Why so many people use ~/bin/? What’s wrong with ~/.local/bin?

> Like many Unix users, I long ago created a ~/bin/ directory in my home directory

`.local/bin` seems to be much more common in my experience for this use case. And for good reason.

It’s clever, but is not aesthetic. A comma feels unnatural in the fs.

Clever hack! <3 I also do namespacing yet in a different way.

I create a home directory "x" for executables that I want to manage as files, and don't want on PATH or as alias.

To run foo: ~/x/foo

For example I have GNU date as ~/x/date so it's independent of the system BSD date.

This is a really good practical step if you worry about name collisions

quick, easy and consistent. entirely voluntary.

Bravo

This is one of those ideas that is so simple and elegant that it makes you think “why did I never think of doing this?!”

Neat trick! I don’t think I’ll namespace everything this way, because there’s some aliases and commands I run so often that the comma would get annoying, but for other less frequently used helper scripts then this will be perfect!

I use a different prefix character, e.g. "[", but I have been doing this for years

I started using a prefix because I like very short script names that are easy to type

I prefer giving scripts numbers instead of names

Something like "[number"

I use prefixes and suffixes to group related scripts together, e.g., scripts that run other scripts

I have an executable directory like ~/bin but it's not called bin. It contains 100s of short scripts

Interesting, though I never had enough custom scripts to justify this, I prefer oh-my-zsh plugin style short aliases instead, i.e. https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/tree/master/plugins/git

Finally a post that is relevant to what I have been looking for quite some time.

Also, kudos to keeping it so concise and to the point, thats some prime writing.

,Start all of your commands with a comma

I tried a variant or this idea so many years ago after I leaned git and rearranged some of my personal tools as subcommands (like git) of a single executable named "dude,"

It went weird pretty quickly...

I read this blog a few years ago, and implemented it soon after with a refresh of my rc files and shortcuts. Gamechanger - has helped me every single day since. It’s easy to remember, autocompletes easily, and adds a little flair of personalization.

I appreciate the idea, but the comma just looks horrible to me as part of a filename. I can imagine someone unfamiliar with the naming scheme to get confused.

I'd prefer to use underscore (when writing BASH scripts, I name all my local variables starting with underscore), but a simple two or three letter prefix would also work. I don't like the idea of a punctuation prefix as punctuation usually has a specific meaning somewhere and including it as the first character in a filename looks wrong. (e.g. Comma is typically used as a list separator and it's a bit of cognitive dissonance to see it not used in that context)

similarly, I start all my underscorends with an underscore

This is just brilliant. Thanks.

(2009)