Use GNU Coreutils with 'g' Prefix

Rule (CRITICAL)

ALWAYS use GNU coreutils commands with g prefix instead of Mac default BSD commands.

NEVER use Mac standard commands directly.

Command Mapping

GNU Command (Use)	Mac BSD Command (Prohibited)	Description
gls	ls	List directory contents
gfind	find	Find files
gsed	sed	Stream editor
gawk	awk	Pattern scanning and processing
ggrep	grep	Search patterns
gcat	cat	Concatenate files
gcp	cp	Copy files
gmv	mv	Move files
grm	rm	Remove files
gmkdir	mkdir	Create directories
gchmod	chmod	Change file permissions
gchown	chown	Change file ownership
gdate	date	Display/set date
gtouch	touch	Change file timestamps
ghead	head	Display first lines
gtail	tail	Display last lines
gsort	sort	Sort lines
guniq	uniq	Remove duplicate lines
gwc	wc	Word count
gcut	cut	Cut fields
gtr	tr	Translate characters
gxargs	xargs	Build and execute commands
grealpath	realpath	Resolve absolute paths
gstat	stat	Display file status
greadlink	readlink	Read symbolic links
gln	ln	Create links
gshuf	shuf	Shuffle lines
gsplit	split	Split files
gbase64	base64	Base64 encode/decode
gmd5sum	md5	MD5 checksum
gsha256sum	shasum	SHA256 checksum

Examples

Good: Using GNU Commands

# List files with GNU ls
gls -la

# Find files with GNU find
gfind . -name "*.ts" -type f

# Text processing with GNU sed
gsed -i 's/old/new/g' file.txt

# Pattern matching with GNU grep
ggrep -r "pattern" .

# Path operations with GNU realpath
grealpath --relative-to=/base /target

# File operations
gcp source.txt dest.txt
gmv old.txt new.txt
grm -rf directory/

Bad: Using Mac BSD Commands

# DO NOT USE Mac standard commands
ls -la
find . -name "*.ts"
sed -i '' 's/old/new/g' file.txt
grep -r "pattern" .
realpath file.txt
cp source.txt dest.txt

Common Patterns

File Operations

# Copy with GNU cp
gcp -r source/ dest/

# Move with GNU mv
gmv file.txt newdir/

# Remove with GNU rm
grm -rf directory/

Text Processing

# Search and replace with GNU sed
gsed -i 's/pattern/replacement/g' file.txt

# Pattern matching with GNU grep
ggrep -E "pattern1|pattern2" file.txt

# Process with GNU awk
gawk '{print $1, $3}' file.txt

File Finding

# Find files with GNU find
gfind . -type f -name "*.ts" -exec ggrep -l "pattern" {} \;

# Find and process
gfind . -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

Path Operations

# Get absolute path
grealpath ./file.txt

# Get relative path
grealpath --relative-to=/base /target

Installation Note

GNU coreutils can be installed via Homebrew:

brew install coreutils

After installation, commands are available with g prefix.

Rationale

• GNU coreutils provide consistent behavior across platforms
• Better compatibility with Linux systems
• More features and options than BSD versions
• Consistent behavior in scripts across different environments