the sentence is just as follows: diff <(cat .config | sort) <(cat .config.old | sort) | awk '/^>.*(=|Linux)/ { $1=""; print }'
without inserting the 'cat' and '*'(the part of awk),It seems like, the result of the command is the same as before. Does the existence of the aboving 'cat' and '*' (the part of awk) have some special meaning which make them necessary on the sentence?