[mortenlarsen]

There is no need to call cat to read from a file.

> temp=$(cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone1/temp)

temp=$(</sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone1/temp)

[0xCAP]

A classic example of cat abuse in my book.

[elsyx]

Definitely an unwarranted cat call.

[deeblering4]

meow

[piperswe]

IMO the cat version is more readable, and any performance difference should be negligible