A Bash script for quickly creating Bash scripts

Have you ever thought about the process you have to go through to create a bash script? Create file, make the file executable, open file, add the shebang on the first line, go to the second line, start writing the script. Sounds like a ton of work that can be automated. When I realized this, I quickly got to work to create a bash script that would automate this. I wanted a script that would allow me to type newbash my-script.sh to create and open a new bash script in a text editor.

Here it is:

#!/bin/bash
# Create a boilerplate bash script and open it in vim.
# Usage: newbash <file-to-create>

if [ -z "$1" ]; then
    echo 'No file name provided.'
    exit 1
elif [ -e "$1" ]; then
    echo 'File already exists.'
    exit 1
fi

# Create the file.
# Make the file executable.
# Add a shebang and a newline to the file.
touch "$1" \
    && chmod u+x "$1" \
    && echo '#!/bin/bash' > "$1" \
    && echo '' >> "$1" \
    && vi +2 "$1"  # Open file and position cursor on the second line.

If you don't use vim, just change the last line to make the file open in whichever text editor you use.

I placed the script in the ~/bin/ directory, so now every time I need to create a bash script, I no longer have to go through tedious boilerplate steps. Now, all that I need to do is a simple newbash my-script.sh. Hope this saves you time.

Monolune