Xonsh — a Python-powered shell

A language that allows us to use Python in the shell and the shell in Python

The world of the Linux command line is fantastic. It gives you the freedom to do infinite things with it. In this article, I will write about a shell that allows you to mix statements written in Phyton with regular commands.

As you probably know, most command-line interpreters or ‘shells’ allow you to create and run your own ‘scripts.’

Generally, these “scripts” are usually small programs interpreted at runtime that can be used for various actions, such as automating tasks.

If you have been in software development for a few years now, I am sure you are familiar with the old .bat files used in the MS-DOS command line. These scripts gave way to the .ps scripts currently used in Windows PowerShell or the .sh scripts used in Linux.

Scripts written for the Shell use a syntax limited to what you can do directly on the command line. But what if we could write scripts for our shell, complementing the use of shell-defined commands with a complex and powerful syntax such as that provided by a high-level language like Phyton?

Well, this is what the Xonsh shell allows us to do.