It's true fish is generally more verbose, as it has less magical syntax. fish is also missing some niceties like `set -e` and `set -x` which we would like to ad

It's true fish is generally more verbose, as it has less magical syntax. fish is also missing some niceties like `set -e` and `set -x` which we would like to add, but the main focus is interactive use. Happily the begin/ends in ifs are no longer necessary: if not command test -f $dest or command test $src -nt $dest # stuff end In this particular case, you can simplify it further with test's operators: if command [ ! -f $dest -o $src -nt $dest ] #stuff end which is comparable in length to bash, though other cases will certainly be longer.