#22873·tldr

Input redirection in examples

Author: acuteenvyCreated Jun 15, 2026Updated Sep 12, 2026
Labelsdecisionmass changes

#18006 defined that input redirection should be the first thing after the command (i.e. cmd < file arg1 arg2).

@BeLi4L has recently started a discussion about this in #18571:

https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/pull/18571#issuecomment-4620535424

That's a weird convention indeed

The advantage of putting the file input last command arg1 arg2 < input is that you don't mix args & stdin.

Having the input in the middle of the arguments (e.g. command < input arg1 arg2) can be very misleading, it can make people think that the command accepts a file path as a 1st argument, and is waaaaaaay more uncommon than the standard command arg1 arg2 < input.

Very unsettling choice.

I'm opening this issue because many people likely haven't seen this comment, as it was posted in an old PR.


I've personally always used input redirection after arguments, but the new syntax doesn't look too bad.