Multiline shebang

Multiline shebang is a draft programming task. It is not yet considered ready to be promoted as a complete task, for reasons that should be found in its talk page.

Simple shebangs can help with scripting, e.g., #!/usr/bin/env python at the top of a Python script will allow it to be run in a terminal as "./script.py".

Occasionally, a more complex shebang line is needed. For example, some languages do not include the program name in ARGV; a multiline shebang can reorder the arguments so that the program name is included in ARGV.

The syntax for a multiline shebang is complicated. The shebang lines must be simultaneously commented away from the main language and revealed to some shell (perhaps Bash) so that they can be executed. In other words, Polyglots.

Warning: Using a multiline shebang of the form #!/bin/sh ... exec ... !# will set the code's mimetype to text/x-shellscript, which creates problems such as Emacs treating the file as a shell script, no matter which language and file extension it really uses.

See also

• Native shebang - where the "program loaded" is of the actual native task language.

Ada

Translation of: C

<lang Ada>#!/bin/bash sed -n -e '7,$p' < "$0" > mulshbang.adb gnatmake -q mulshbang ./mulshbang $* rm mulshbang* exit with Ada.Text_IO, Ada.Command_Line; -- first line of Ada program

procedure Mulshbang is

 use Ada.Text_IO;

begin

 Put_Line("Name: " & Ada.Command_Line.Command_Name);
 for I in 1 .. Ada.Command_Line.Argument_Count loop
   Put_Line("  Arg" & Integer'Image(I) & ": " &
            Ada.Command_Line.Argument(I));
 end loop;

end Mulshbang;</lang>

Output:

>./adamulshbang
Name: ./mulshbang
>./adamulshbang one two three
Name: ./mulshbang
  Arg 1: one
  Arg 2: two
  Arg 3: three

C

#!/bin/bash
sed -n -e '7,$p' < "$0" | /usr/bin/gcc -x c -o "$0.$$.out" -
$0.$$.out "$0" "$@"
STATUS=$?
rm $0.$$.out
exit $STATUS
#include <stdio.h>

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
  int i;
  for (i = 0; i < argc; i++)
    printf("argv[%d] -> %s\n", i, argv[i]);
  return 0;
}

Test runs:

$ ./cmulshbang.c
argv[0] -> ./cmulshbang.c.4062.out
argv[1] -> ./cmulshbang.c
$ ./cmulshbang.c 1
argv[0] -> ./cmulshbang.c.4071.out
argv[1] -> ./cmulshbang.c
argv[2] -> 1
$ ./cmulshbang.c 1 2
argv[0] -> ./cmulshbang.c.4080.out
argv[1] -> ./cmulshbang.c
argv[2] -> 1
argv[3] -> 2

Student exercise: use a stable filename for the executable, e.g. "$0.out". Do not remove it, and only recompile it if the script's timestamp is newer than that of the executable.

Clojure

The namespace = basename = filename minus the extension must be passed as a value to Clojure's -m flag.

<lang clojure>":";exec clj -m `basename $0 .clj` $0 ${1+"$@"}</lang>

Alternate shebang, using the Leiningen 'exec' plugin:

<lang clojure>":";exec lein exec $0 ${1+"$@"}</lang>

Common Lisp

Works with: CLISP

Here, the script name is passed once to CLISP and once to ext:*args*, which normally omits it.

<lang lisp>#!/bin/sh

1. |

exec clisp -q -q $0 $0 ${1+"$@"} |#</lang>

E

E uses only “#” for line comments, like the shell, so there is no straightforward answer. We can abuse the fact that “>” is also a line comment to achieve this effect. Note that a “>” line comment should ordinarily only occur as part of Updoc (test/documentation) text, so this is not good practice.

In this example, we are including the command name itself in the argument list, which would ordinarily not include it.

<lang e>#!/bin/sh >/dev/null; exec rune $0 $0 ${1+"$@"}

println(`I was called as ${interp.getArgs()[0]}.`)</lang>

Emacs Lisp

<lang lisp>:;exec emacs -batch -l $0 -f main $*</lang>

Erlang

hello.erl

<lang Erlang>#!/usr/bin/env escript

-module(hello). -export([main/1]).

main(_) -> io:format("Hello World!~n", []).</lang>

This works fine when the module is run by itself with dot slash:

<lang sh>$ ./hello.erl Hello World!</lang>

But when another Erlang module tries to import the code, or you try to compile manually in erl, you get a syntax error.

<lang sh>$ erl Erlang R14B03 (erts-5.8.4) [source] [64-bit] [smp:2:2] [rq:2] [async-threads:0] [hipe] [kernel-poll:false]

Eshell V5.8.4 (abort with ^G) 1> c(hello). ./hello.erl:1: syntax error before: '#' ./hello.erl:4: no module definition error</lang>

F#

F# scripts may be run with dot-slash notation using the following multiline shebang:

<lang f#>#light (* exec fsharpi --exec "$0" --quiet

• )

let main = printfn "Hello World"</lang>

However, if a script has any dependencies that need to be compiled in, the fsharpi interpreter will not understand how to import them. This means dot-slashing is no longer viable, and the script must be compiled in order to run properly. The shebang can stay, but it is best to remove it, to make clear to users that the script should not be dot-slashed.

Factor

Factor no longer requires a space after #! as of v0.95.

<lang factor>#!/usr/bin/env factor -script</lang>

Forth

We can use Gforth's (non-ANS standard) support for shebangs and the '#' number prefix to make Gforth skip over the shebang without interfering with shell script interpretation.

<lang forth>#! /bin/sh

1. 0 [IF] \ lines below read by shell but ignored by Gforth

  exec gforth \
  -m 256M \
  -d 16M \
  "$0" "$@"

[THEN] .( hello world) CR BYE </lang>

Go

<lang go>#!/bin/bash sed -n -e '12,$p' < "$0" > ttmmpp.go go build ttmmpp.go rm ttmmpp.go binfile="${0%.*}" mv ttmmpp $binfile $binfile "$@" STATUS=$? rm $binfile exit $STATUS

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Go Code start on line 12

package main import (

 "fmt"
 "os"

)

func main() {

 for i, x := range os.Args {
   if i == 0 {
     fmt.Printf("This program is named %s.\n", x)
   } else {
     fmt.Printf("the argument #%d is %s\n", i, x)
   }
 }

} </lang>

J

Assuming this task is asking for a mix of unix shell commands and J, and also that the J binary directory is listed in $PATH

<lang J>#!/bin/sh

1. 0 :0

echo unix shell commands go here echo presumably this will condition the environment echo for example: cd working-directory echo or maybe you want to modify $PATH, ... whatever... echo then start up J: exec jconsole "$0" "$@" )

NB. exit on error onfail=:3 :0

 1!:2&2]13!:12 NB. display error message
 2!:55>:13!:11 NB. exit with 1 origin error number

) 9!:27 'onfail 1' 9!:29]1

NB. and then the rest of the file is J echo 'hi!' echo 'your command line arguments were:' echo ARGV echo p:i. 3 4 exit 0 </lang>

Notes:

The #!/bin/sh line is interpreted by J as a verb train with no arguments - in other words, it is ignored.

The # 0 :0 line is interpreted by shell as a comment and by J as the beginning of a multiline "hereis" script which basically ignores everything up to the lone right parenthesis.

So then it's just regular shell script up until the line where we turn control over to J. On that line, we use exec (so that the shell process does not hang around, waiting for J to finish - J takes over the current process). And we pass any shell script command line arguments on to J.

On the J side of the fence, we presumably want this code to behave like a normal unix module, so we need to override J's default behavior (which is to provide the J command line). 9!:29]1[9!:27'2!:55]1 is a bit of magic that accomplishes that: it stacks a command to exit with exit code 1 to be executed when we reach the command line. So any errors will terminate the program.

Next, we run the system J profile so that we have all of the standard stuff that that provides. (Or leave this out if that's what you want.)

Finally we do some J stuff and then exit. If everything goes right, the command line exit we stacked earlier just gets ignored.

Here's a variant where the shell script tests J's exit code and does something different based on success or failure.

<lang J>#!/bin/sh

1. 0 :0

echo unix shell commands go here echo presumably this will condition the environment echo for example: cd working-directory echo or maybe you want to modify $PATH, ... whatever... echo then start up J: if jconsole -jprofile "$0" "$@"; then

 echo success

else

 echo failure

fi exit $? )

9!:29]1[9!:27'2!:55]1' NB. exit on error (3 :'0!:0 y')<BINPATH,'/profile.ijs'

NB. and then the rest of the file is J echo 'hi!' echo 'your command line arguments were:' echo ARGV echo p:i. 3 4 exit 0 </lang>

The exit $? line tells the shell interpreter to ignore the J part of the file, and the $? reuses J's exit code as the exit code from the shell instance.

OCaml

ocamlc hates shebangs, so much trickery is needed. The number of underscores in the dummy kkkk identifier corresponds to the number of bash strings in the shebang. Thus, core library .cma files can be specified this way in interpreted mode, though accessing other OCaml scripts requires compiling them first, and referencing the .cmo's here.

<lang ocaml>if true then ignore begin let kkkk _ _ _ _ = 0 in kkkk "exec" "ocaml" "$0" "$@" + let fi = 0 and exit _ _ = 0 in if false then exit fi true else 0 end;;

let main = print_endline "Hello World!"</lang>

Example:

$ head -n 2 she.ml
if true then ignore begin let kkkk _ _ _ _ _ _ = 0 in kkkk
"exec" "ocaml" "$0" "unix.cma" "graphics.cma" "$@" + let fi = 0 and exit _ _ = 0 in if false
$ ocaml she.ml
Hello World!
$ /bin/bash she.ml
Hello World!
$ ocamlc -o she.byte she.ml
$ ./she.byte
Hello World!
$ ocamlopt -o she.opt she.ml
$ ./she.opt
Hello World!

PARI/GP

The PARI equivalent to a multiline shebang is a collection of GP; lines: <lang C>/* GP;install("C_function_name","G","GP_name","./filename.gp.so"); GP;addhelp(GP_name, "GP_name(n): Computes the foo of bar(n).");

• /</lang>

These commands are passed to GP when invoked by gp2c.

Perl

From perldoc perlrun, the following is supposed to find perl one way or another under sh, csh or perl. <lang perl>#!/usr/bin/perl eval '(exit $?0)' && eval 'exec perl -wS $0 ${1+"$@"}' & eval 'exec /usr/bin/perl -wS $0 $argv:q' if $running_under_some_shell;</lang>

Perl 6

<lang perl6>#!/usr/local/bin/perl6 eval '(exit $?0)' && eval 'exec perl6 $0 ${1+"$@"}' & eval 'exec perl6 $0 $argv:q'

       if 0;</lang>

PicoLisp

We can use a multi-line comment #{ ... }# to hide the shell commands from Lisp. The opening #{ in turn is a coment for the shell. <lang PicoLisp>#!/bin/bash

1. {

exec pil $0 foo bar

1. }#

1. Lisp code

(println (cadr (file)) (opt) (opt)) (bye)</lang>

Output:

$ ./myScript
"myScript" "foo" "bar"

Pike

we use a multiline comment to hide the shell command from pike, and we can use a preprocessor directive to hide the comment begin from the shell. <lang Pike>#!/bin/bash

1. define foo foo /*

exec pike $0 hello world

• /

int main(int argc, array argv) {

  write("%O\n", argv);

}</lang>

Output:

({ /* 3 elements */
   "/local/users/mbaehr/src/pike/multiline-shebang/multiline-shebang.pike",
   "hello",
   "world"
})

PostgreSQL

This style of shebang would also work with other languages that use double dashes for comments, though most of them (Lua, Haskell) already support traditional #!... shebangs.

<lang postgresql>--() { :; }; exec psql -f "$0"

SELECT 'Hello World!';</lang>

Python

We can use multiple strings to make the shell commands do nothing from Python (actually they become the module docstring.). <lang Python>#!/bin/bash "exec" "python" "$0"

print "Hello World"</lang>

Output:

$ ./myScript
Hello World

Control structures (if/for/etc.) can't be quoted, but one can use the following to embed any script: <lang Python>#!/bin/sh "true" \' if [ -L $0 ]; then ... exec "$interpreter" "$@" exit 127

__doc__ = """module docstring"""

print "Hello World"</lang>

Here we use a) the code '''\' translates to \ in shell, but opens a multi-line string in Python; b) the true command ignores its argument, c) we always exit before the ending ''' so that the shell interpreter never reads it. Also, remember to set any docstrings by assigning to __doc__ since the docstring is already used for the shell script.

Racket

<lang Racket>

1. !/bin/sh
2. | -*- scheme -*-
3. this is sh code

echo running "$0", passing it into itself as an argument exec racket -tm "$0" "$0" |#

1. lang racket

(provide main) (define (main arg)

 (printf "argument: ~a\nexecuted as: ~a\n"
         arg (find-system-path 'exec-file)))

</lang>

Ruby

One can use a single-line shebang, like #!/usr/bin/env ruby, and use Kernel#system or `backquotes` to run any extra shell commands. A multi-line shebang is possible, but not necessary.

This script works both ways: either /bin/sh script.rb or ruby script.rb would run multiple lines of shell commands, and then start Ruby.

<lang ruby>#!/bin/sh

1. Insert shell code here!

printf '%s\n' "Shell running $0" i=1 for arg do

 printf '  %s\n' "\${$i}: $arg"
 i=`expr $i + 1`

done

1. Switch from shell to Ruby.

exec ${RUBY-ruby} -x "$0" --coming-from-sh "$@"

1. !ruby

ARGV[0] == "--coming-from-sh" or exec "/bin/sh", $0, *ARGV ARGV.shift

1. Insert Ruby code here!

puts "Ruby running #$0" ARGV.each_with_index do |arg, i|

 puts "  ARGV[#{i}]: #{arg}"

end</lang>

When running /bin/sh scratch.rb, the shell:

1. ignores #!/bin/sh, because it is a comment.
2. runs multiple lines of shell code.
3. executes ruby -x; user can set RUBY environment variable to pick different Ruby, like RUBY=ruby19 or RUBY=jruby.

ruby -x skips every line until the first Ruby shebang. This line must start with "#!" and must contain "ruby". (So "#!ruby" is the shortest shebang to work.)

When running ruby scratch.rb (without -x option), Ruby notices that the first line "#!/bin/sh" is a foreign shebang.

• Ruby 1.8 then interprets this shebang and executes /bin/sh.
• Ruby 1.9 then assumes -x option and skips to the first Ruby shebang. The script is not --coming-from-sh, so it executes /bin/sh.

Scala

The scala(1) interpreter parses a header section. The scalac compiler does not.

<lang scala>

1. !/bin/bash

FOO=bar scala $0 $@ exit !# def fact(n : Int) : Int = {

 var i = n ;
 var a = 1 ;
 while (i > 0) {
   a = a*i ;
   i -= 1 ;
 }
 return a ;

}

println("fact(5) = " + fact(5));</lang>

Scheme

Works with: Chicken Scheme

<lang scheme>#!/usr/bin/env csi -ss</lang>

Smalltalk

<lang smalltalk>"exec" "gst" "-f" "$0" "$0" "$@"</lang>

Tcl

It is normal to use a line like this: <lang tcl>#!/usr/bin/env tclsh</lang> But in cases where that is not enough perhaps because it needs some logic to locate the Tcl interpreter to use the differences in the way Tcl and the Bourne shell interpret end-of-line backslashes in comments can be used: <lang tcl>#!/bin/sh

1. Next line is comment in Tcl, but not in sh... \

exec tclsh "$0" ${1+"$@"}</lang> Additional complexity can be added so long as the lines for the shell are commented in a Tcl sense.

TXR

#!/bin/sh
sed -n -e '4,$p' < "$0" | /usr/bin/txr -B - "$0" "$@"
exit $?
@(next :args)
@(collect)
@arg
@(end)

Test run:

$ ./multilineshebang.txr
arg[0]="./multilineshebang.txr"
$ ./multilineshebang.txr 1
arg[0]="./multilineshebang.txr"
arg[1]="1"
$ ./multilineshebang.txr 1 2 3
arg[0]="./multilineshebang.txr"
arg[1]="1"
arg[2]="2"
arg[3]="3"
$