Strips comments from config files. Can be used with filename arguments, or with pipes.

strip-comments.sh

#!/bin/bash

function main () {
  if [ $# -gt 0 ]; then
    # Someone sent us a filename
    cat "$@" | grep -v ^\; | grep -v ^$ | grep -v ^\ $ | grep -v '^#'
  else
    if [ -t 0 ]; then 
      #  Someone called us without args or pipes.
      usage
    else
      # Someone piped some stdin, or the contents of a file to us
      DATA="$(cat)"
      echo "$DATA" | grep -v ^\; | grep -v ^$ | grep -v ^\ $ | grep -v '^#'
    fi
  fi
}

function usage () {
  echo "Usage:"
  echo "$(basename "$0") /path/to/file1 [/path/to/file2 ...]"
  echo "cat /path/to/file | $(basename "$0")"
}

main "$@"