Tips and Tricks

Here are some helpful tips to get the most out of your browser shell.

Reuse Output with Command Substitution

You can use backticks or $() to embed the result of a command:

echo "Today is: `date`"
COUNT=$(ls | wc -l)
echo "There are $COUNT files"

Chaining and Conditional Execution

Use && to run the next command only if the previous succeeded:

mkdir logs && echo "Created logs dir"

Use || to run if the previous command failed:

cat file.txt || echo "File not found"

Combine them:

mkdir temp && cd temp || echo "Could not enter dir"

Use read for Interactive Scripts

Prompt for user input:

read username "What's your name?" Guest
echo "Welcome, $username"

Use Functions for Reusability

say(msg) {
  echo "📢 $msg"
}

say "This is reusable"

Save and Use Variables Persistently

export FAVORITE=banana

Now $FAVORITE will be available in future scripts and sessions.

Count Lines from Files

cat items.txt | grep apple | wc -l