cat file | … vs … <file

Question

Is there a case of ... or context where cat file | ... behaves differently than ... ?

Answer 1

A useless use of cat is always to be avoided. It's like driving with the handbrake on. It wastes CPU cycles for nothing, the OS constantly context switching between the cat process and the next in the pipe. If all the world's useless cats were gone and stopped being invented, reinvented, passed on from father to son, we wouldn't have global warming because we could easily live with 1.21 Gigawatts of power saved.

Thanks. I feel better now. Please join me in my crusade to stamp out useless use of cat on stackoverflow. This site is, as far as I perceive it, a major contribution to the proliferation of useless cats. I don't blame the newbies, but I do want to teach them. Workers and newbies of the world, loosen the handbrakes and save the planet!!!1!