- utilize awk if you need to process (=more complex than just grepping) large amounts of text.
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- make your awk code conform to at least busybox awk for compability
I once did a sh script that needed (because I wanted a challenge?) to be compatible with vanilla Android shell too. So I needed to test it with regular bash, busybox and mksh+toybox. That was 'fun'.
I've had some initial plans to spllit the code out from that project and develop a "shell" library that would ease building shell scripts that are compatible with different systems... But I bet someone else has already done that.
I would then assume those scripts weren't written properly to begin with.
But yes, shell scripts should be used (normally) to automate some simple tasks (file copying, backups...) or as an wrapper to exec some other program. I've written several shell scripts to automate things on my personal machines.
However shell script can be complex program while at the same time being (somewhat) easy to maintain:
This way at least I don't break my scripts, when I need to modify a function or some way extend my scripts. Keeping the UNIX philosophy inside shell scripts: let one function do one thing well.
And of course: YMMV. People have wastly different coding standards when it comes to personal little(?) projects.