Shell Scripting / Bash Tricks

Effortless Temporary File Management with Process Substitution

🧩 The Challenge

Scripts often require passing the output of a command to an application that strictly expects a file path as an argument. Creating and cleaning up temporary files manually leads to cluttered disk space and unnecessary I/O overhead.

💡 The Fix

Use bash process substitution to treat the command output as a temporary file descriptor that the OS automatically closes after the command finishes.

diff <(sort file1.txt) <(sort file2.txt)

⚙️ Why It Works

The <() syntax creates a named pipe or temporary file descriptor that bash feeds with the output of the command inside, allowing tools that only accept file arguments to read the data as if it were a regular file.

🚀 Pro-Tip: Use >() to redirect output into a command that expects an input file path, effectively performing a live stream pipe without intermediate storage.

Linux Tips & Tricks | © ngelinux.com | 7/9/2026