Backticks are evil
program1 $(program2 $(program3 $(program4)))
versus
program1 `program2 \`program3 \`program4\`\``
Second, they're easier to read, then trying to decipher the difference between the backtick and the singlequote: `'. The only drawback $() suffers from is lack of total portability. If your script must be portable to the archaic Bourne shell, or old versions of the C-shell or Korn shell, then backticks are appropriate, otherwise, we should all get into the habit of $(). Your future script maintainers will thank you for producing cleaner code.
What do you think?
Any thoughts on this command? Does it work on your machine? Can you do the same thing with only 14 characters?
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date +"The date is %c"(Not to mention that %D is the worst possible date format.)x=1; case $x in 1) echo one ;; esacWhy? Because the 1) in the case confuses the $() parser.$(x=1; case $x in 1) echo ls ;; esac)as well as the backtick version`x=1; case $x in 1) echo ls ;; esac`