My scripts seem to work fine without it, so I’m wondering what difference it actually makes. Also, how is the #! (shebang) pronounced, especially the # symbol?
Yeah, I used to skip #!/bin/bash too—until I hit some weird bugs on a new system. It turned out, without the shebang, your script might get interpreted by /bin/sh instead of Bash. This can cause issues like breaking arrays or messing up [[ ]] conditionals.
Now, I always make sure to start with #!/bin/bash to lock in the Bash environment. Oh, and just so you know, #! is pronounced ‘shebang’—it’s short and punchy.
Totally with you on this, @prynka.chatterjee !
I realized the importance of #!/bin/bash when I was deploying scripts via cron jobs or Docker. Without it, the default shell (sometimes dash, sometimes something else) is used, and that can cause even simple commands to fail silently.
Since then, I make it a point to always include #!/bin/bash at the top. It makes your script portable and predictable. By the way, for anyone wondering, #! is called ‘shebang’—and yes, the # is the ‘hash,’ and ! is the ‘bang.’
Ah, I had the same experience when I first shared a script with a teammate on macOS—it didn’t run correctly until we added #!/bin/bash at the top. That’s when I learned that the kernel relies on this line to know how to execute the file.
Without it, you’re at the mercy of how the shell was invoked, which is not always reliable. And just to reiterate, while most people say ‘shebang,’ the # is technically ‘hash’ and the ! is ‘bang.’ It’s good to know these details!