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[Polite question] What are the advantages of "watch" command?

Open pm-pm opened this issue 6 years ago • 2 comments
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Hello.

I watched the development of the watch command and didn't understand what it was about. Now I tried it and still don't understand what the command is for.

In a normal 3 line bash loop I can make a comparison, evaluate the result and output it formatted as a message. Great.

With the Watch command I can only see the difference. What is this? What are the advantages?

This is a very polite question because I really don't understand it. :-)

pm-pm avatar Apr 26 '19 12:04 pm-pm

Also not a criticism, and I also dont feel that understand it in full so feel free to argue if you think I have misunderstanding in how it works.

With a 3 line bash loop you can also evaluate a command, make a comparison and output it formatted as a message. Why bother using the watch command?

My answer would be that it would be used so frequently that it would be good to have a dedicated program to do this job and get the job done easier and quicker.

eternal-flame-AD avatar Apr 26 '19 12:04 eternal-flame-AD

To stick to the truth: You are talking about the Linux watch command? I had never heard about the Linux watch command before. Interesting command, but I've never missed anything like it. I always do my comparisons manually, which gives me more control.

If many people use it again and again, then it makes sense to implement it. Now I have understood the intention.

Maybe you can show a good example in the documentation so that it is easier to understand the intention. 👍

Thanks for the explanations.

pm-pm avatar Apr 26 '19 12:04 pm-pm