When you look at how infinite loops should be implemented, you mostly see this approach:
while :
do
# loop infinitely
done
But I just don't understand the use of : here. Wouldn't it be better to use:
while true
do
# loop infinitely
done
?
This question is related to
bash
from manual:
: [arguments] No effect; the command does nothing beyond expanding arguments and performing any specified redirections. A zero exit code is returned.
As this returns always zero therefore is is similar to be used as true
Check out this answer: What Is the Purpose of the `:' (colon) GNU Bash Builtin?
The colon is a built-in command that does nothing, but returns 0 (success). Thus, it's shorter (and faster) than calling an actual command to do the same thing.
Source: Stackoverflow.com