shush 🤫

Remove comments from source code files blazingly fast using sed under the hood.

Installation

Quick Install (Linux/macOS)

curl -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/carlosarraes/shush/main/install.sh | sh

Manual Download

Download the binary for your platform from the releases page.

Usage

# Remove all comments from a file
shush file.py

# Remove only line comments (// or #)
shush file.js --inline

# Remove only block comments (/* */)
shush file.c --block

# Preview what would be removed (dry run)
shush script.sh --dry-run

# Create a backup before modifying
shush config.lua --backup

# Verbose output
shush app.go --verbose

Supported Languages

Language	Line Comments	Block Comments
Python	#	-
JavaScript/TypeScript	//	/* */
Go	//	/* */
C/C++	//	/* */
Java	//	/* */
Lua	--	-
Shell/Bash	#	-
Ruby	#	-
Perl	#	-
YAML	#	-

Options

--inline     Remove only line comments
--block      Remove only block comments
--dry-run    Show what would be removed without making changes
--backup     Create backup file before modification
--verbose    Show detailed output
--version    Show version information
--help       Show help message

Examples

Python

# Before
# This is a comment
def hello():
    print("Hello")  # Inline comment

# After running: shush example.py
def hello():
    print("Hello")

JavaScript

# Remove only line comments, preserve block comments
shush app.js --inline

# Remove only block comments, preserve line comments
shush app.js --block

Backup and Preview

# Always create backup before modifying
shush important.go --backup

# See what would be removed first
shush config.yaml --dry-run --verbose

How It Works

shush uses optimized sed commands to remove comments while preserving code structure. It:

• Auto-detects language from file extension
• Builds appropriate sed patterns for the detected language
• Removes comments and empty lines in a single pass
• Preserves strings and code that might look like comments

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/carlosarraes/shush.git
cd shush
go build -o shush

Requirements

• sed (available on all Unix-like systems)
• Linux or macOS (x86_64 or ARM64)

License

MIT