BASH

The colon builtin is the shell's most underrated command - it evaluates arguments, discards results, and unlocks parameter expansion tricks that simplify scripts. HN debate: readable or cryptic?

Someone found an obfuscated bash script on a Uniqlo x Akamai t-shirt and decoded it. Here's what they found - and what HN thinks about whether it was AI-generated.

Run Bash commands with Ctrl+B and retrieve output by task ID.

Prefix prompts with ! to run shell commands directly, bypassing Claude.

Execute shell commands with persistent working directory in project bounds.

SessionStart hooks can persist env vars across Bash tool calls.

Filesystem and network isolation for Bash tool calls on Linux and macOS.