Extract text from Bash scripts (BASH)
To convert BASH scripts to another format, you need GNU Bash or other Developer software.
To convert other file formats to the "Shell Script" file type, you need software like GNU Bash or a similar tool.
The .bash file is a plain text executable script written for the GNU Bash Unix shell. Developers and system administrators use these files to string together command-line instructions, automate server deployments, manage system updates, and manipulate files. Because they are fundamentally text, you can read and edit .bash files in code editors like Notepad++ or Visual Studio Code. For a comprehensive overview of the shell's history and architecture, refer to its Wikipedia page.
Despite their ubiquity on Linux and macOS, .bash files present significant disadvantages for general users. They are highly platform-dependent and do not run natively on Windows without installing emulators like Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) or Cygwin. Furthermore, as plain text scripts, their source code is completely exposed. Distributing a .bash file means sharing your exact operational logic, which is a security risk if the script contains hardcoded paths or server credentials. Additionally, email clients and web browsers often flag or block .bash attachments as malicious executables.
To share script logic safely, users routinely need to convert .bash files to TXT or PDF. This strips away the executable risk, allowing the code to be safely attached to emails, reviewed by auditors, or hosted on web platforms. Some developers attempt to convert .bash into compiled EXE binaries using shell-to-C compilers (like shc) to obfuscate the code. Standard online document converters fail to process this format because they do not recognize the developer-specific extension.
Drag and drop your file into convert.guru to see what it is and convert it if supported. Even if the file extension is unrecognized by standard office tools, our engine can identify the plain text structure, inspect the internal code, and safely convert the script into universal document formats like PDF or TXT without executing the potentially dangerous payload.
Convert.Guru analyzes your BASH file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted SH, BASHRC, TXT, ELD, GMS, CQL, PYTHON, CSH, FISH and BAT files.
If you want to convert BASH file to PYTHON, CSH, FISH, SH, BAT, JS, TS, PY, JAVA, CPP, C or CS, you can use GNU Bash or similar software from the "Unix Command-Line Automation" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert SH, PY, KT, PS1, SWIFT, LUA, PL, JAVA, SCALA, JS, VBS or TS files to BASH, try GNU Bash or another comparable tool in the "Unix Command-Line Automation" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our BASH converter.