seq has the -s flag which voids the need of the paste for that command: $ seq -s + 10 20 10+11+12+13+14+15+16+17+18+19+20 But I agree that the paste is ve

seq has the -s flag which voids the need of the paste for that command: $ seq -s + 10 20 10+11+12+13+14+15+16+17+18+19+20 But I agree that the paste is very useful. # a few random samples for an IN SQL statement $ shuf -i 1-500000 -n 5 | paste -s -d , 371492,250061,266669,455846,295852 # we can even get PI $ ( seq -s + -f '4/%g' 1 4 100000 && seq -s - -f '4/%g' 3 4 100000 ) | paste -s -d - | bc -l 3.14157265358979523735