The snippet library.
Small, practical examples. Search by task or narrow things down below.
Change directory only for one operation
Bash Scripts: A subshell makes a temporary directory change without affecting later commands.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Collect two independent background results
Bash Scripts: Write each job’s output separately and wait for both before combining results.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Export a value to child processes
Bash Scripts: Only exported shell variables are inherited through the environment.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Handle a nonzero background-job exit
Bash Scripts: Wait reports a child’s exit code; put it in a conditional when failure is expected.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Keep loop state by avoiding a pipeline subshell
Bash Scripts: Redirect input into a while loop so updates to a counter remain in the current shell.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Preserve a failure status while an EXIT trap runs
Bash Scripts: Capture the status immediately on entry to the trap before running cleanup commands.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Remove a variable from one child’s environment
Bash Scripts: env -u removes an inherited value for a single command.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Set an environment value for one child command
Bash Scripts: A command-prefix assignment is visible to that command without overwriting the shell’s current variable.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Stop a child process created by the script
Bash Scripts: Send a signal only to the captured PID of the script’s own child and wait for it to exit.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Wait for a background job before reading its output
Bash Scripts: Save the job PID and wait explicitly before consuming files it produces.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested