SHELLCAT(1)

💖 SHELLCAT(1) 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to the manual page for shellcat, section 1 — the templating system with shell syntax. It’s literally the main character of this page, and we’re gonna get you comfy with it. 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

shellcat [-s SHELL] TEMPLATE [ARG...]

shellcat {-h | --help | -v | --version}

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

shellcat is a template processor, which uses shell script syntax. It can be used to produce static HTML pages, or pre-process any sort of text document. Slay. 💅

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -s, --shell=SHELL — Use the specified shell. The default is /bin/sh. 🐚
• -h, --help — Display help and exit. Byeee 👋
• -v, --version — Output version information and exit. 💫

🦋 TEMPLATE SYNTAX 🦋

• text — Unless specified otherwise below, any text is echoed verbatim:

$ cat ex1.sc
Hello world!

$ shellcat ex1.sc
Hello world!

• #!interpreter — If the first line of the template starts with #! characters, it is completely ignored. This allows for executable scripts with shellcat as interpreter:

$ cat ex2.sc
#!/usr/bin/shellcat
Hello world!

$ chmod +x ex2.sc
$ ./ex2.sc
Hello world!

• <$ code $> — The code is executed by the shell:

$ cat ex3.sc
<$ for x in $(seq 3); do $>Hello world!
<$ done $>

$ shellcat ex3.sc
Hello world!
Hello world!
Hello world!

Whitespace around code is strongly recommended, but not obligatory; see below however. ⚠️

• -$> — If used inside a code block, the $> sequence (with the leading minus sign omitted) is used in the shell code:

$ cat ex4.sc
<$ echo '-$> not closed yet' $>

$ shellcat ex4.sc
$> not closed yet

• <$- — If used outside a code block, the <$ sequence (with the trailing minus sign omitted) is output:

$ cat ex5.sc
<$- not code $>

$ shellcat ex5.sc
<$ not code $>

🌸 ENVIRONMENT 🌸

The following environment variables are available for the processes spawned by shellcat:

• SHELLCAT — name of the shellcat interpreter. 👑

Variables which existed in the environment are not modified, but left intact. No cap. 💯

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

sh(1) — go give your shell bestie some love too. 🐚💖

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mwah 💋 this little page is for shellcat version 1.2, dated 2022-10-24 — catch you in the next manpage, bestie! 🎀✨🫶