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jq is definitely tough to learn, I can never remember it.

But, the whole argument against jq as a unitasker not worth learning and traditional unix tools being better is weird. Traditionally Unix tool mentality was “do one thing only and do it well” then pipe it together. jq fits perfectly into the Unix toolset.

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Yes jq is definitely a tool like that. The problem nowadays is maybe more that there are many competing options. jq seems most popular for JSON parsing but once in a while another tool is used that maybe has better ergonomics but a different syntax etc. You can master jq but it will not be enough since there is no consensus. This used to be easier I believe, the tools in common use were fewer. So let's imagine awk got JSON support. Would that be for the better or worse?

Also, Alton Brown doesn't advise against unitaskers because he's some kind of hater. The reason you don't have unitaskers in the kitchen is because they take up physical space. You have to decide which tools are worth the space they take up, and it's hard to justify that for a tool you will only use once in a while. That's not a concern with computers any more, so the reasoning doesn't apply here.

Replace kitchen space with head space.

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