path=/tmp/my/path/to/stuff.txt
dir="${path%/*}"
file="${path##*/}"
other="${path/stuff/other}"
In a gig last year, I needed to improve the build turnaround times on a Jenkins system. After learning everything I could about Jenkins, I realized the correct answer was to delete it and rewrite my own version that ran on the local system, which was way, way faster and much easier to debug and maintain.
Not having to commit/upload your code to a build server and then wait to get an executable/package back is an enormous time-saver just in that overhead alone, but even the build itself was faster, even though it was written entirely in bashscript.
Go figure.