Scripting help

count_pipes.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# this makes bash produce error if you use uninitialized variable (good scripting practise)
set -u

# $# is set to number of arguments
# -lt means less than
if [[ $# -lt 2 ]]; then
    echo "Not enough args"
    echo "USAGE: ./count_pipes FILE MAX_PIPE_COUNT"
    exit 1
fi

filename=$1
max_count=$2
logfile=/tmp/logfile

# i is just for counting lines
i=0
total_count=0
while read line; do 
    # printf is kind of like echo (except better for cases when you are priting variables)
    # I assume you know what pipes do
    # tr -cd '|' deletes all characters except '|'
    # wc -c counts characters (only pipes are left so it counts pipes in this case)
    # these `` let you use result of a command as a value
    count=`printf "%s" "$line" | tr -cd '|' | wc -c` 
    let "total_count+=count"
    # -gt greater than
    if [[ "$count" -gt $max_count ]]; then
        echo "More than <$max_count> pipes on line <$i>" >> $logfile
    fi  
    # increment line counter
    let "i++"
done < $filename

echo "Total pipe count: <$total_count>" >> $logfile