This is not an object-oriented replacement for shell scripts. This is a shell script DSL embedded in Python. If you want to use Python to manipulate the input

This is not an object-oriented replacement for shell scripts. This is a shell script DSL embedded in Python. If you want to use Python to manipulate the input or output of shell commands, then write a Python script that reads from stdin and writes to stdout, and use the shell to insert that script into the appropriate point in your command chain. It's the UNIX way.