Posix shells feature a syntax that is a mix between command substitution and piping, called process substitution. It is used to send the output of a command into the calling command, much like command substitution, but with the difference that the output is not sent through commandline arguments but through a named pipe, with the filename of the named pipe sent as an argument to the calling program. `psub` combined with a regular command substitution provides the same functionality.
If the `-f` or `--file` switch is given to `psub`, `psub` will use a regular file instead of a named pipe to communicate with the calling process. This will cause `psub` to be significantly slower when large amounts of data are involved, but has the advantage that the reading process can seek in the stream.