Use long flags when scripting (2013)
Great suggestion, but I&#x27;d go for a middle ground: use long flags for the long tail, but short flags are fine for stuff that&#x27;s very commonly used.<p>I think I&#x27;ll continue to write these:<p><pre><code>    grep -i
    rm -rf
    ln -s
    gzip -v
    sed -e
</code></pre>
instead of:<p><pre><code>    grep --ignore-case
    rm --recursive --force
    ln --symbolic
    gzip --verbose
    sed --expression
</code></pre>
If you&#x27;re working on shell scripts, you probably know certain short flags well enough that long flags just add clutter and don&#x27;t improve readability.