{"id":23375,"date":"2026-08-20T20:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mcqacademy.com\/en\/?p=23375"},"modified":"2026-08-20T20:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T14:24:19","slug":"how-to-shorten-the-cwebp-command-in-linux-mint-with-a-bash-function","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mcqacademy.com\/en\/how-to-shorten-the-cwebp-command-in-linux-mint-with-a-bash-function\/2026\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Shorten the cwebp Command in Linux Mint with a Bash Function"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I usually optimize images locally before uploading them to the live servers for my websites. Since I use Linux Mint, one of my regular tools for this job is cwebp<\/code>, which I run directly from the command line to convert PNG and JPG images to WebP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My most-used command is simple:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cwebp image-name.png -o image-name.webp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
It works well, but after using it again and again, I started looking for a way to avoid typing the same filename twice every time I converted an image. When filenames are long, that small repetition becomes even more annoying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because I already use the Linux terminal for this task, I wanted a solution that would stay simple and keep using cwebp<\/code> rather than adding another application. I solved it by creating a small Bash function called towebp<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Now, instead of writing the full command, I can simply run:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
towebp image-name.png<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
and Bash automatically creates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
image-name.webp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
This article explains the setup I use on Linux Mint, how the Bash function works, and how you can add the same shortcut to your own terminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Check That cwebp Is Installed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Before creating the shortcut, first confirm that cwebp<\/code> is installed and available from your terminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Run:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
which cwebp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
On my Linux Mint system, the output is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\/usr\/bin\/cwebp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
This confirms that the cwebp<\/code> executable is installed and available in the shell path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the command returns nothing, install the WebP command-line utilities before continuing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Normal cwebp Command<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The general cwebp<\/code> command can include compression options and a quality value:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
cwebp [options] -q quality input.png -o output.webp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
For a basic conversion, I usually use:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
cwebp image-name.png -o image-name.webp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
The command is easy enough, but the filename has to be written twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, if the source image is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
php-allowed-memory-size-exhausted-real-fix.png<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
the full command becomes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
cwebp php-allowed-memory-size-exhausted-real-fix.png -o php-allowed-memory-size-exhausted-real-fix.webp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
That is more typing than I want for a task I perform regularly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Create a Short towebp Command with a Bash Function<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Bash functions are a good fit for this because the shortcut needs to accept a filename, remove its current extension, and automatically create the WebP output filename.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Open your Bash configuration file:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
nano ~\/.bashrc<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Go to the very bottom of the file and add:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
# Convert image to WebP\ntowebp() {\n  cwebp \"$1\" -o \"${1%.*}.webp\"\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Then save the file in Nano:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Press Ctrl + O<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Press Enter<\/code><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Press Ctrl + X<\/code><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    Reload the Bash Configuration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    After changing ~\/.bashrc<\/code>, reload it with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    source ~\/.bashrc<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    You can also close the terminal and open a new one. In my case, I reopened the terminal to make sure the updated Bash configuration was loaded cleanly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    That also resolved an initial towebp: command not found<\/code> message I saw after adding the function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Use the New towebp Command<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    Once the function is loaded, switch to any directory that contains the image you want to convert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    cd ~\/Downloads\/website-images<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    Then run:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    towebp file-name.png<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    If the source file is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    file-name.png<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    the function creates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    file-name.webp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    The original image remains unchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    How the Bash Function Works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    The function contains this command:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    cwebp \"$1\" -o \"${1%.*}.webp\"<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    There are two important parts to understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    What “$1” Means<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    Inside a Bash function, $1<\/code> represents the first argument passed to the function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    If you run:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    towebp photo.png<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    then:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    $1 = photo.png<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    The quotes around \"$1\"<\/code> matter because they allow filenames containing spaces to be handled correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    What “${1%.*}” Means<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    The expression:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    ${1%.*}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    removes the shortest matching .*<\/code> suffix from the filename. In this case, that effectively removes the existing file extension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    photo.png<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    becomes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    photo<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    The function then adds .webp<\/code>, producing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    photo.webp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    It Also Works with JPG and JPEG Files<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    The function is not limited to PNG files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    You can run:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    towebp photo.jpg<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    and it creates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    photo.webp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    The same approach works with JPEG files:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    towebp photo.jpeg<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    which also creates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    photo.webp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    Using Filenames with Spaces<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    The function can also handle filenames containing spaces, as long as you quote the filename when calling it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    towebp \"My Website Image.png\"<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    This creates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    My Website Image.webp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    Add a Default WebP Quality Setting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    If you normally use the same quality setting for most of your website images, you can include that value directly in the function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    For example, to always use quality 82:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    # Convert image to WebP using quality 82\ntowebp() {\n  cwebp -q 82 \"$1\" -o \"${1%.*}.webp\"\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    Now this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    towebp image.png<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    runs the equivalent of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    cwebp -q 82 image.png -o image.webp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    This is useful if you want to keep a consistent WebP compression setting across images prepared for your websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Troubleshooting: towebp Command Not Found<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    If you run the shortcut and see:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    towebp: command not found<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    first confirm that the function was actually saved in ~\/.bashrc<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    grep -n -A3 'towebp' ~\/.bashrc<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    You should see something similar to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    120:towebp() {\n121-  cwebp \"$1\" -o \"${1%.*}.webp\"\n122-}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    Next, check whether Bash has loaded the function:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    type towebp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    If it is loaded correctly, Bash should report:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    towebp is a function<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    You can also check your ~\/.bashrc<\/code> file for Bash syntax errors:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    bash -n ~\/.bashrc<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    If there are no syntax errors, the command normally produces no output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    If the function is present in ~\/.bashrc<\/code> but still is not available, close the current terminal window and start a new one. That fixed the problem in my setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Why Use a Bash Function Instead of an Alias?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    A Bash alias is useful when you want to replace one fixed command with another fixed command. This shortcut needs a little more logic because it has to accept an input filename and build a new output filename automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    A function handles that much more cleanly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    It lets this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    towebp image.png<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    automatically behave like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    cwebp image.png -o image.webp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    without requiring you to write the output filename yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    Final Bash Function<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    If you only need the basic version, this is the complete function:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    # Convert image to WebP\ntowebp() {\n  cwebp \"$1\" -o \"${1%.*}.webp\"\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    Add it to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    ~\/.bashrc<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    Then reload Bash:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    source ~\/.bashrc<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    or close the terminal and open a new one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    After that, converting an image becomes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    towebp file-name.png<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    and the output file is created as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    file-name.webp<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    The standard cwebp<\/code> command already does its job well, but if you use it frequently, repeating the same filename for input and output becomes unnecessary work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    A small Bash function solves that neatly. The towebp<\/code> command keeps the original filename, removes the old extension, and creates a WebP file with the same base name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    For anyone who regularly prepares images locally before uploading them to WordPress or another website, this is a simple Linux Mint customization that makes the command-line workflow faster and easier to use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    Learn how to create a simple Bash function in Linux Mint that shortens the cwebp command and converts PNG or JPG images to WebP with less typing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":23377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","mcq_note":"","mcq_options":[],"mcq_multi_answer":"","mcq-view-count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1871],"tags":[3294,3299,3300,3295,3298,3297,3224,3301,3296,3302,3303,3304],"class_list":["post-23375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-linux-tutorials","tag-bash","tag-bash-function","tag-command-line","tag-cwebp","tag-image-conversion","tag-image-optimization","tag-linux-mint","tag-linux-terminal","tag-webp","tag-webp-conversion","tag-website-images","tag-wordpress-images"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcqacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcqacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcqacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcqacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcqacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23375"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mcqacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23378,"href":"https:\/\/mcqacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23375\/revisions\/23378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcqacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcqacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcqacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcqacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}