uniq Ref per Libor Benes (Dr. B)

uniq Ref is a lightweight Firefox sidebar extension offering efficient offline access to 91 essential uniq command options, filtering patterns, and practical usage scenarios for detecting and handling duplicate lines in text.

The uniq command, written by Ken Thompson for Unix, appeared in Version 3 Unix (February 1973) and has remained a cornerstone of text processing ever since. It reports or filters out repeated lines in adjacent positions within sorted input, making it indispensable for data deduplication, frequency analysis, and log file processing. uniq embodies the Unix philosophy of focused tools that excel at specific tasks when combined with other utilities like sort.

Content Coverage:
The extension includes essential uniq elements:
• Basic Operations: Report unique lines, show duplicates only, count occurrences.
• Field and Character Skipping: Skip fields (-f) and characters (-s) for flexible comparison.
• Case-Insensitive Processing: Ignore case distinctions (-i) during duplicate detection.
• Output Formatting: Prefix counts (-c), show only duplicates (-d), show only unique lines (-u).
• Character Comparison Control: Limit comparison to first N characters (-w).
• Zero-Terminated Lines: Handle null-separated input (-z) for find -print0 compatibility.
• Practical Pipelines: Integration with sort, cut, awk, and other Unix tools.
• Real-World Examples: Log analysis, data cleaning, frequency distribution, file comparison.

Use Cases & Practical Applications:
• Log Analysis: Identify unique error messages, count occurrence frequencies.
• Data Deduplication: Remove duplicate lines from sorted lists and configuration files.
• Frequency Distribution: Count occurrences of sorted items with -c option.
• File Comparison: Find lines unique to one file using comm and uniq combinations.
• Text Processing: Extract unique IP addresses, usernames, or domain names.
• Report Generation: Create summary reports with occurrence counts.

Target Audience:
• System Administrators analyzing logs and removing duplicate entries.
• Data Analysts cleaning datasets and identifying unique values.
• Developers processing configuration files and removing redundant lines.
• DevOps Engineers analyzing deployment logs and system outputs.
• Shell Scripting Enthusiasts building data processing pipelines.

Extension Features:
• 91 Comprehensive Entries: Covering all uniq options, field skipping patterns, and practical applications.
• Instant Search: Real-time filtering by option, pattern, or description.
• Click-to-Copy: One-click command copying for immediate terminal use.
• Compact Interface: Space-efficient sidebar optimized for quick reference.
• Terminal-Inspired Colors Selected for Readability.

Security-First Architecture:
• Minimal Permission: Only clipboardWrite required for copy functionality.
• No Data Collection: Explicitly declared with "required": ["none"] in manifest.json.
• No Analytics, No Tracking Pixels, No Telemetry.
• No Cookies, No Local Storage, No IndexedDB Usage: All data stored locally in a file.
• Offline Operation, No Transmission of Any Kind: Works completely offline with no network connections.
• Secure Implementation: Vanilla JavaScript.
• No Third-Party Code or Libraries: Pure implementation with no external dependencies.
• Input Validation.

Technical Specifications:
• Compatibility: Firefox 109.0+ (64-bit desktop).
• File Size: ~25 KB total.
• Performance: Instant search with efficient filtering.
• Testing: Verified on Firefox 147.0.4 (February 22, 2026).

uniq Ref provides immediate access to this essential Unix utility's capabilities, supporting professionals who rely on text processing tools for duplicate detection and data analysis while maintaining strict security and privacy standards.