Embracing uniform resource identifier on the command line

Let's embrace a uniform resource identifier (URI) on the command line. An input-stream, for example, is created from a URI for redirection in a shell.

How do I search a web page on the command line?

1. Download a page with wget.
2. Use grep.

$ wget http ://www.jnode.org/
$ grep href < index.html

Why not download-and-grep a web page?

$ grep href < http ://www.jnode.org/

How do I display a web page on the command line?

$ cat < http ://www.jnode.org/

How do I display the md5sum of a document?

$ md5sum < http ://www.jnode.org/

How do I download-and-uncompress an archive?

$ gunzip < http ://www.jnode.org/demo.tar.gz | tar x

How do I display the contents of a resource inside a jar?

$ cat < jar:demo.jar!/license.txt

The URI provides an alternative syntax for local files, too.

$ cat < in.txt
is equivalent to
$ cat < file :/in.txt