pjeby

Mixed Markdown and Shell Scripting

: By the power of this magic string: ex: set ft=markdown ;:<<'```shell' #, this file is now both a markdown document and an executable shell script. chmod +x it and try running it!

The above line does just what it says. More specifically, when placed within in the first 5 lines and preceded only by blank lines or #-prefixed markdown headers:

1. The first part of the magic string makes github and various editors (e.g. atom with the vim-modeline packge) treat the file as having markdown syntax (even if the file doesn't have an extension)
2. The second part (if run in a shell), makes the shell skip execution until it encounters the next ```shell block.

(The line also has to start with a : so that it's valid shell code.)