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CLI IO Schemes/Methods

An IO Scheme is the method in which Input is obtained, and Output is given back to the user. The scheme describes the rules and locations that the program/tool shall place/expect to take/put information.

A CLI (Command-line Interface) Tool has the following Input schemes available to it:

• Command-Line arguments
• Environment Variables
• from stdin
• local file or other IO device/file descriptor

For Output:

• to stdout
• local file or other IO device/file descriptor

Usually, stdin and stdout can be redirected to any file descriptor of choosing when invoking the tool, hence support of stdin and stout IO schemes is enough to support IO with any device/file.

Tags:

#literature-note #unix #io

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