Why write this up but not explain it? This command is a combination of several commands used in Unix-like operating systems, connected together using pipes. Let's break it down:
fd '.fi.md$':
fd is a program similar to the traditional find command but with a more user-friendly syntax and faster performance.
'.fi.md$' is a regular expression. It matches files whose names end with .fi.md. The dollar sign $ in regular expressions signifies the end of a line or string, so this ensures that the command only finds files that exactly end with .fi.md.
|:
This is a pipe. It takes the output of the command on its left (the list of files found by fd) and uses it as the input for the command on its right.
xargs -I _ -- batcat --paging=always _:
xargs is a command used to build and execute command lines from standard input.
-I _ tells xargs to replace occurrences of _ in the initial arguments with names read from standard input (the list of files provided by fd).
-- is used to signify the end of command options, after which only positional arguments are accepted.
batcat --paging=always _: Here, batcat is likely an alias or a symlink to bat, a command that provides syntax highlighting and Git integration for a variety of file types, and it's an improved version of the cat command. --paging=always ensures that bat always uses a pager (like less) to display the file content, regardless of the size of the file.
_ is replaced by each file name from the output of fd.
Putting it all together:
The command finds all files ending in .fi.md in the current directory and subdirectories.
For each of these files, it then calls batcat (or bat) with the --paging=always option, effectively displaying their contents with syntax highlighting and paging, allowing you to scroll through the content if it's longer than the screen size.
fd '.fi.md$':
fd is a program similar to the traditional find command but with a more user-friendly syntax and faster performance. '.fi.md$' is a regular expression. It matches files whose names end with .fi.md. The dollar sign $ in regular expressions signifies the end of a line or string, so this ensures that the command only finds files that exactly end with .fi.md. |:
This is a pipe. It takes the output of the command on its left (the list of files found by fd) and uses it as the input for the command on its right. xargs -I _ -- batcat --paging=always _:
xargs is a command used to build and execute command lines from standard input. -I _ tells xargs to replace occurrences of _ in the initial arguments with names read from standard input (the list of files provided by fd). -- is used to signify the end of command options, after which only positional arguments are accepted. batcat --paging=always _: Here, batcat is likely an alias or a symlink to bat, a command that provides syntax highlighting and Git integration for a variety of file types, and it's an improved version of the cat command. --paging=always ensures that bat always uses a pager (like less) to display the file content, regardless of the size of the file. _ is replaced by each file name from the output of fd. Putting it all together:
The command finds all files ending in .fi.md in the current directory and subdirectories. For each of these files, it then calls batcat (or bat) with the --paging=always option, effectively displaying their contents with syntax highlighting and paging, allowing you to scroll through the content if it's longer than the screen size.