alt Hacker NewsIt always exists on any Unix system. Even a busybox root environment. Why do you want to save a few bytes to compromise portability?
It always exists on any Unix system. Even a busybox root environment. Why do you want to save a few bytes to compromise portability?
But it isn't portable, unless you stick to posix subset which kinda sucks. You'll use some feature that some dude using an ancient shell doesn't have then he'll complain to you. And that list of features is LONG: https://oneuptime.com/blog/post/2026-02-13-posix-shell-compa...
If you're using shell specific features in a tightly controlled environment like a docker container then yeah, go wild. If you're writing a script for personal use, sure. If you're writing something for other people to run then your code will be working around all the missing features posix hasn't been updated to include. You can't use arrays, or arithmetic context, nothing. It sucks to use.
Besides, if you're writing a script it is likely that it will grow, get more complicated, and you will soon bump up against the limitations of the language and have to do truly horrible workarounds.
This is why if I need something for others to run then I just use python from the beginning. The code will be easier to read and more portable. At this point the vast majority of OS's and images have it available anyway so it's not as big a barrier as it used to be.