Use iostat -En instead of format

2015-01-20

I generally see recommendations to use format to list the disks installed in a Solaris-like system. I find format rather annoying and consider this terrible advice.

I find iostat -Een to be superior in every way:

• Output can be filtered and sorted.
• The tool exits cleanly without interaction.
• The details are fuller.

I can think of only one drawback:

• iostat -Een is more difficult to remember than format.