I didn't like the idea. I prefer the alternative approach: _I_ decide the order of dirs in the PATH env. If I introduce an executable with a name, that overrides a system one - I probably do that intentionally.

If I introduce an alias (like `grep='grep --binary-files=without-match --ignore-case --color=auto`) that matches the name of a system binary - I probably do that intentionally.

And if I EVER need to call grep without my alias - I just prefix it with a backslash: \grep will search with case sensitivity and no color and will scan binaries.

Using commas in filenames feels kind of weird to me, but I do use a comma as the initiator for my Bash key sequences. For example: ,, expands to $ ,h expands to --help ,v expands to --version ,s prefixes sudo

You put keyseqs in ~/.inputc, set a keyseq-timeout, and it just works.

As a non-native English speaker I just name them in my native language or using British English spelling.

I have a command named "decolour", which strips (most) ANSI escape codes. Clear as day what it does, almost nobody uses this spelling when naming commands that later land as part of a distribution.

Prefixing commands solves the namespace problem and discoverability (at least partly). I use a slightly more sophisticated method, which helps me remember which custom utilities are available and how to use them: sd [1], a light wrapper written for zsh that, in addition to namespaces, provides autocompletion, custom help texts + some other QoL enhancements. Can definitely recommend if you're looking for something a bit more fancy.

[1] https://github.com/ianthehenry/sd

    Every tool and shell that lay in arm's reach treated the comma as a perfectly normal and unobjectionable character in a filename.

WTF. After 40 years maybe I should have figured that one out.

Most of my aliases contain `--` for the same reason, `git--progress`, `grep--rIn`, `nvidia--kill`, `ollama--restart`, `rsync--cp`, `pdf--nup`...

Easy autocomplete, I know there won't be any collision, and which command is mine.

Nice although I think the ASCII comma feels wrong as part of a filename even if for purely aesthetic reasons.

If we want to stay within (lowercase) alphabetic Latin characters I think prefixing with the least common letters or bigrams that start a word (x, q, y, z, j) is best.

`y' for instance only autocompletes to `yes' and `ypdomainname' on my path.

Choosing a unique bigram is actually quite easy and a fun exercise.

And we can always use uppercase Latin letters since commands very rarely use never mind start with those.

Why so many people use ~/bin/? What’s wrong with ~/.local/bin?

It’s clever, but is not aesthetic. A comma feels unnatural in the fs.