noun
shebang
shih-BANG
noun
1
Informal: the whole thing; every part of a situation or undertaking (usually "the whole shebang").
"They rented a marquee, a live band, fireworks — the whole shebang."
2
In computing, the "#!" characters at the start of a script that tell the system which program should run it.
"The script starts with the shebang line #!/bin/bash so the system knows to run it with Bash."
How to Use Shebang
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishCasually, "everything included"; technically, the special line at the top of a script file.
When to use it
The "whole shebang" sense is informal, mostly spoken American English.
Common pairings
the whole shebang
shebang line
Word Forms
shebangs plural, shebangs plural
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They rented a marquee, a live band, fireworks — the whole _____.
Etymology
Origin unclear — the word surfaces in 1850s America meaning a shelter or ramshackle building, likely influenced by "shebeen" (an unlicensed Irish drinking house); the computing sense is unrelated and much later.