pure bash bible
A reference book of bash snippets that replace external commands with built-in shell features.
- Stars
- 41.7k
- Forks
- 3.7k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- Shell
- Last update
- 2.9 years ago
- Type
- Learning resource
This repository is archived and no longer maintained.
What it is
This is a free reference book of shell scripting recipes for bash. Each entry shows how to do a common task, such as trimming a string, reading a file, or getting terminal size, using only bash's built-in features instead of calling outside programs like sed, awk, or cut. The README says the goal is to remove unneeded dependencies from scripts and, in most cases, make them faster.
- Trim whitespace or change case of a string without calling tr or sed
- Read a file into a variable or array without calling cat
- Get the terminal size or cursor position from inside a script
- Look up a bash parameter expansion or conditional form when writing a script
Great for
- Bash scripters who want fewer external dependencies in their scripts
- People learning bash internals and what the shell can do on its own
- Maintainers of portable command-line tools who want to reduce process spawning
- Readers who want a searchable list of snippets to copy from
Not ideal for
- People who need POSIX sh portability: the README points to a separate pure-sh-bible project for that
- Anyone wanting a finished application, since this is a collection of snippets, not a program
- Beginners with no shell basics, since entries assume familiarity with bash syntax
How to get it
- 1
Read it online
You'll need: bash
Clone the repository to read it locally
git clone https://github.com/dylanaraps/pure-bash-bible - 2
Run it
- Open the README or the Leanpub book in a browser
- Pick a topic from the table of contents, such as Strings or File Handling
- Copy a snippet into your script and test it in your bash version
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Check the CONTRIBUTING.md file to see how the unit tests are organized
- Use the table of contents to jump directly to the task you need
- Compare each snippet against the external-command version to confirm the speed or dependency benefit for your case
Downloads
Strengths
- The README states snippets are linted with shellcheck and tested where applicable
- Covers a broad range of topics, from strings and arrays to terminal escape sequences
- Free to read online, with a paid edition on Leanpub that the author links to
Trade-offs
- The repository was archived, so it is no longer updated (last push 2023-11-28)
- Snippets target bash specifically and will not run in plain POSIX sh
- The README is truncated here, so the full contents could not be verified
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pure-bash-bible (this) | 41.7k | Learning resource | intermediate | 2.9 years ago | Bash scripters who want fewer external dependencies in their scripts |
| java8-tutorial | 16.7k | Learning resource | beginner | 3.2 years ago | Java developers who work on older Java code and want to learn Java 8 features |
| nvm | 95.7k | Dev tool | beginner | 8 days ago | Developers who work on several Node.js projects that need different versions |
| zoxide | 40.4k | Dev tool | beginner | 4 days ago | Developers who move between many project folders in a terminal |
| atuin | 32.2k | Dev tool | beginner | 4 days ago | Developers who work in a terminal and often need to find past commands |
| asdf | 25.6k | Dev tool | beginner | 5 days ago | Developers who work on several projects that need different language versions |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.