Tag: scripting

curl Flags Every Developer Should Know

Master the curl flags that'll save you hours debugging APIs, downloads, and web requests. From -X to --compressed, here's what actually matters.

Named Pipes (FIFOs) in Shell Scripts

Named pipes (FIFOs) let you buffer and synchronize between processes. They're underused but solve real problems: queuing, coordination, and complex data flows.

Bash Arrays: The Feature That Makes Scripts Readable

Declare, iterate, and manipulate arrays safely. Use indexed and associative arrays for clean bash code.

Bash Process Substitution: What <() and >() Actually Do

Process substitution lets you treat a command's output as a file, and feed input to a command as if it were a file. It's weird but powerful.

Here Documents vs Here Strings in Bash

<<EOF syntax for multiline input, <<-EOF for indentation, <<<string for single lines. When to use each.

GNU parallel for Embarrassingly Parallel Tasks

GNU parallel runs tasks in parallel across CPU cores. It's faster than xargs and easier than writing a job queue. Here's when and how to use it.

trap in Bash: Clean Up When Your Script Dies

trap EXIT for cleanup, trap INT/TERM for graceful shutdown, trap ERR for errors. Reliable error handling.

Debugging Bash Scripts: set -x and Beyond

set -x prints every command before it runs. Add PS4 for context. Use trap for cleanup. Here's the toolkit every bash debugger needs.

Word Splitting: The Bash Gotcha That Corrupts Filenames

Unquoted variables split on IFS, breaking loops and file operations. Always quote vars. Here's why.

String Manipulation in Bash (Without sed or awk)

Bash has built-in string operations: substring extraction, find-replace, case conversion, and trimming. You don't need sed for basic text work.

bash `set -e` Doesn't Work Like You Think

set -e silently fails in subshells, pipes, and conditionals. Learn the gotchas and fix them.

Bash Arithmetic Without bc

Bash has built-in arithmetic. You don't need bc for 90% of math. Here's how to do it right.