> Bash is a language which two decades after, working full time in Linux, I don't completely grasp. Have you taken the time to actually read the read the bash(

> Bash is a language which two decades after, working full time in Linux, I don't completely grasp. Have you taken the time to actually read the read the bash(1)? I've noticed that a lot of people (myself included) don't learn sh/bash (and shell scripting in general) initially out of necessity, not with the intent to actually learn the language. If someone wanted to learn a "normal" programming language like C++, Java, or Rust, the would probably start by reading tutorials or guides that cover the major features and teach the core concepts[1]. With bash, most people appear to start with trying to fix something like a build/install script, often resulting in cargo culting a few lines from stackoverflow, forums, "cool one line tricks"-style blog posts, or similar community resources. These can be very helpful[2], but they are not really a way to actually learn the fundamentals of the language. For me, bash programming initially was very confusing. After I finally forced myself to take the time to actually read the docs/etc, I realized I was making a few incorrect assumptions[3] about the language. After fixing that and learning a few important tricks[4], bash became a lot easier to understand. Now it's one of my favorite languages (for simple tasks). [1] e.g. (C) pointers, (Rust) variable ownership/borrowing [2] http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ [3] IO had a lot of trouble initially trying to figure out how to return values from a function. This was hard because, bash "functions" are not really functions like you would find in most languages. I had assumed that you would return values form functions, which breaks when you try to return anything besides an integer. (bash "functions" like foo() { echo "bar" ; } defines programs that return data by writing to stdout). [4] Always quote variables. Always use curly brackets when using variables ("Hello,, ${name}", not "Hello, %name"). Using $* is almost always wrong; Use "$@" (with the double quotes) instead, which correctly handles spaces/bad-chars in filenames.