What is the purpose of the shebang (#!) line?

beginner

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The shebang tells the system which interpreter to use when executing the script. It must be the first line of the script and starts with #! followed by the path to the interpreter.

#!/bin/bash          # Use bash shell
#!/usr/bin/env bash  # Use bash from PATH (more portable)
#!/bin/zsh           # Use zsh shell
#!/usr/bin/env python3  # Use Python 3

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