Linux shell notes

This is a post containing various assorted Bash scripts, and some explanations of how they work. Some don't rely on Bash specific features and will probably work on many other shells as well. I intend to keep adding to this list over time.

Please stop writing dilution ratios as though they were fractions

Many biologists seem to not know how to write dilution notation properly. The colon ":" and the slash "/", both have distinct and well defined meanings. People (biologists, at least) usually use the slash properly, but in many situations use the colon as if it were a slash. Please, if you mean slash, write slash. If you mean colon, write colon. Do not write colon when you actually mean slash.

Let me explain the difference: