Comment by js2

If you end with a pipe, you don't need the backslash before the newline. It's implicit.

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/253518/where-are-ba...

When writing bash, if I have a command with many switches, I use an array to avoid backslashes and make the intent clearer:

  curl_cmd=(
    curl
    --silent
    --fail
    --output "$output_file"
    "$url"
  )
  "${curl_cmd[@]}"

I also insist on long-form options in shell scripts since they are much more self-documenting as compared to single-letter options.