is '&' the right way to do this?

[TJ Luoma <luomat@gmail.com>]

Every now and again I realize that I've developed a habit, but it
isn't the "right" or "best" way to do something, so I'm asking what
may be an obvious question.

If I am in a zsh shell script (not interactive) and want to have it do
something tangential which does not block the progress of the
main/parent script, then I usually put it in (parentheses) with a & at
the end of the line

So, to use a dramatic example:

#!/bin/zsh -f

echo "This is the start"

( find / -type f -print > /tmp/filelist.txt ) &

echo "This is the end"

exit 0

My intention is that the script would exit long before `find` was done
writing to  '/tmp/filelist.txt'.

Question #1:  Would it be better for any reason to use `&|` such as:

#!/bin/zsh -f

echo "This is the start"

( find / -type f -print > /tmp/filelist.txt ) &|

echo "This is the end"

exit 0

or is the use of `&|` really only beneficial for interactive shells?


Question #2: Are there better ways of doing this?


Thanks!

TjL