Another simple trick that I almost forgot: You don't need to escape new lines if you end them with an operator: test 1 = 1 && test a = b || exit 122 Works

Another simple trick that I almost forgot: You don't need to escape new lines if you end them with an operator: test 1 = 1 && test a = b || exit 122 Works with all logical operators, ampersand and pipe. By the way, the ampersand is often expressed with a new line after it, but it doesn't require it: this_in_background & this_in_foreground This is the same as writing: this_in_background & this_in_foreground