Happy New Year! Let’s start 2026 with a look at something that surprises many developers: Bash script performance actually matters, and you can measure and improve it systematically.

If you’ve ever written Bash scripts that process thousands of log entries, iterate over file lists, or run in tight loops, you’ve probably wondered: “Is this as fast as it can be?” The answer is usually no—but the trick is knowing what to measure and how to interpret the results.