The shebang line (#!/bin/bash) at the beginning of a script serves two main purposes:
-
Interpreter Specification: It tells the operating system which interpreter to use to execute the script. In this case, it specifies that the script should be run using the Bash shell.
-
Execution Context: When you run the script directly (e.g.,
./script.sh), the operating system uses the specified interpreter to execute the commands within the script, ensuring that the script runs in the correct environment.
Without the shebang line, you would need to explicitly invoke the interpreter (e.g., bash script.sh) to run the script.
