GP_HOSTNAME appears unused. Verify it or export it. Open
GP_HOSTNAME=ubuntu
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- Exclude checks
foo appears unused. Verify it or export it.
Problematic code:
foo=42
echo "$FOO"
Correct code:
foo=42
echo "$foo"
Rationale:
Variables not used for anything are often associated with bugs, so ShellCheck warns about them.
Also note that something like local let foo=42
does not make a let
statement local -- it instead declares an additional local variable named let
.
Exceptions
ShellCheck may not always realize that the variable is in use (especially with indirection), and may not realize you don't care (with throwaway variables or unimplemented features).
For throwaway variables, consider using _
as a dummy:
read _ last _ zip _ _ <<< "$str"
echo "$last, $zip"
or use a directive to disable the warning:
# shellcheck disable=SC2034
read first last email zip lat lng <<< "$str"
echo "$last, $zip"
For indirection, there's not much you can do without rewriting to use arrays or similar:
bar=42 # will always appear unused
foo=bar
echo "${!foo}"
This is expected behavior, and not a bug. There is no good way to statically analyze indirection in shell scripts, just like static C analyzers have a hard time preventing segfaults.
As always, there are ways to [[ignore]] this and other messages if they frequently get in your way.
Notice
Original content from the ShellCheck https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/wiki.
Use 'cd ... || exit' or 'cd ... || return' in case cd fails. Open
cd profile
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Use cd ... || exit in case cd fails.
Problematic code:
cd generated_files
rm -r *.c
func(){
cd foo
do_something
}
Correct code:
cd generated_files || exit
rm -r *.c
# For functions, you may want to use return:
func(){
cd foo || return
do_something
}
Rationale:
cd
can fail for a variety of reasons: misspelled paths, missing directories, missing permissions, broken symlinks and more.
If/when it does, the script will keep going and do all its operations in the wrong directory. This can be messy, especially if the operations involve creating or deleting a lot of files.
To avoid this, make sure you handle the cases when cd
fails. Ways to do this include
-
cd foo || exit
as suggested to just abort immediately -
if cd foo; then echo "Ok"; else echo "Fail"; fi
for custom handling -
<(cd foo && cmd)
as an alternative to<(cd foo || exit; cmd)
in<(..)
,$(..)
or( )
Exceptions:
ShellCheck does not give this warning when cd
is on the left of a ||
or &&
, or the condition of a if
, while
or until
loop. Having a set -e
command anywhere in the script will disable this message, even though it won't necessarily prevent the issue.
If you are accounting for cd
failures in a way shellcheck doesn't realize, you can disable this message with a [[directive]].
Notice
Original content from the ShellCheck https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/wiki.
Use 'cd ... || exit' or 'cd ... || return' in case cd fails. Open
cd contrib/demo
- Read upRead up
- Exclude checks
Use cd ... || exit in case cd fails.
Problematic code:
cd generated_files
rm -r *.c
func(){
cd foo
do_something
}
Correct code:
cd generated_files || exit
rm -r *.c
# For functions, you may want to use return:
func(){
cd foo || return
do_something
}
Rationale:
cd
can fail for a variety of reasons: misspelled paths, missing directories, missing permissions, broken symlinks and more.
If/when it does, the script will keep going and do all its operations in the wrong directory. This can be messy, especially if the operations involve creating or deleting a lot of files.
To avoid this, make sure you handle the cases when cd
fails. Ways to do this include
-
cd foo || exit
as suggested to just abort immediately -
if cd foo; then echo "Ok"; else echo "Fail"; fi
for custom handling -
<(cd foo && cmd)
as an alternative to<(cd foo || exit; cmd)
in<(..)
,$(..)
or( )
Exceptions:
ShellCheck does not give this warning when cd
is on the left of a ||
or &&
, or the condition of a if
, while
or until
loop. Having a set -e
command anywhere in the script will disable this message, even though it won't necessarily prevent the issue.
If you are accounting for cd
failures in a way shellcheck doesn't realize, you can disable this message with a [[directive]].
Notice
Original content from the ShellCheck https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/wiki.
Useless cat. Consider 'cmd < file | ..' or 'cmd file | ..' instead. Open
cat report/results_junit.xml | highlight xml
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Useless cat. Consider 'cmd < file | ..' or 'cmd file | ..' instead.
Problematic code:
cat file | tr ' ' _ | nl
cat file | while IFS= read -r i; do echo "${i%?}"; done
Correct code:
< file tr ' ' _ | nl
while IFS= read -r i; do echo "${i%?}"; done < file
Rationale:
cat
is a tool for con"cat"enating files. Reading a single file as input to a program is considered a Useless Use Of Cat (UUOC).
It's more efficient and less roundabout to simply use redirection. This is especially true for programs that can benefit from seekable input, like tail
or tar
.
Many tools also accept optional filenames, e.g. grep -q foo file
instead of cat file | grep -q foo
.
Exceptions
Pointing out UUOC is a long standing shell programming tradition, and removing them from a short-lived pipeline in a loop can speed it up by 2x. However, it's not necessarily a good use of time in practice, and rarely affects correctness. [[Ignore]] as you see fit.
Notice
Original content from the ShellCheck https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/wiki.
Useless cat. Consider 'cmd < file | ..' or 'cmd file | ..' instead. Open
cat spec/demo_spec.sh | highlight sh
- Read upRead up
- Exclude checks
Useless cat. Consider 'cmd < file | ..' or 'cmd file | ..' instead.
Problematic code:
cat file | tr ' ' _ | nl
cat file | while IFS= read -r i; do echo "${i%?}"; done
Correct code:
< file tr ' ' _ | nl
while IFS= read -r i; do echo "${i%?}"; done < file
Rationale:
cat
is a tool for con"cat"enating files. Reading a single file as input to a program is considered a Useless Use Of Cat (UUOC).
It's more efficient and less roundabout to simply use redirection. This is especially true for programs that can benefit from seekable input, like tail
or tar
.
Many tools also accept optional filenames, e.g. grep -q foo file
instead of cat file | grep -q foo
.
Exceptions
Pointing out UUOC is a long standing shell programming tradition, and removing them from a short-lived pipeline in a loop can speed it up by 2x. However, it's not necessarily a good use of time in practice, and rarely affects correctness. [[Ignore]] as you see fit.
Notice
Original content from the ShellCheck https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck/wiki.