she-bang #!

**debtboy** · 09-17-2009, 04:23 PM

What is she-bang and why do we call it that??

What is she-bang?
she-bang or sh-bang are the first 2 characters of a line,
indicating to the OS that a command interpreter is needed.

These 2 characters make up a magic number, typically used in shell scripts
and some other programs that require a command interpreter. Immediately
following the she-bang is a path to the required interpreter.

The # character, which is normally used to denote comments, make the
she-bang line itself invisible to the interpreter.

Why do we call it that?
The # character is sometimes called sharp (sh-arp) or hash (ha-sh)
and the exclamation point is sometime called a bang for short. sh-bang or she-bang.

Typical usage:
#!/bin/bash or #!/bin/env bash

Most any shell and many interpreters can be called out this way.

Welcome to the world of Linux scripting

Jordan · 09-17-2009, 04:35 PM

A very important line for all Linux scripts. Without it, you won't go far! +rep

**debtboy** · 09-17-2009, 04:59 PM

thanks for the +rep

Yes it's very important.

When i first started using linux (many years ago),
I heard the term she-bang a few times and it wasn't
until a months later that I actually learned what it meant.

Linux newbies have a whole new vocabulary to learn,
so simple explanations sometimes help.