AFAIK
egrep -v " grep | \
tee | $0 "
is nothing but
egrep -v " grep | tee | $0 "
where \
is the continuation character in bash.
egrep
is same as grep -E
-v for inverted selection
tee
just another string
so egrep -v " grep | tee | $0 "
does find lines that have the string {java path} and within this results, all the lines that doesn't match the condition {either of grep OR tee OR $0 } where
$0 is the filename not a '$0'
because it uses DOUBLE QUOTES and not single quotes :)
" commands | $variables "
has the tendency to expand the variables and use the utility.