name: shell-scripting description: Practical bash scripting guidance emphasising defensive programming, ShellCheck compliance, and simplicity. Use when writing shell scripts that need to be reliable and maintainable.

Bash Scripting Best Practices

Guidance for writing reliable, maintainable bash scripts following modern best practices. Emphasises simplicity, automated tooling, and defensive programming without over-engineering.

When to Use Shell (and When Not To)

Use Shell For:

Small utilities and simple wrapper scripts (<100 lines)
Orchestrating other programmes and tools
Simple automation tasks
Build/deployment scripts with straightforward logic
Quick data transformation pipelines

Do NOT Use Shell For:

Complex business logic or data structures
Performance-critical code
Scripts requiring extensive error handling
Anything over ~100 lines or with non-straightforward control flow
When you need proper data structures beyond arrays

Critical: If your script grows too large (1000+ lines) or complex, consider offering to rewrite it in a proper language (Python, Go, etc.) before it becomes unmaintainable.

Mandatory Foundations

Every bash script must have these elements:

1. Proper Shebang

#!/usr/bin/env bash

Why: Portable across systems where bash may not be at /bin/bash (e.g., macOS, BSD, NixOS).

Alternative: #!/bin/bash if you know the script only runs on Linux and prefer explicit paths.

2. Strict Mode

set -euo pipefail

What each flag does:

-e: Exit immediately if any command fails (non-zero exit)
-u: Treat unset variables as errors
-o pipefail: Pipe fails if ANY command in pipeline fails (not just the last)

When to add -x: Only for debugging, not in production scripts (makes output noisy).

3. ShellCheck Compliance

Run ShellCheck on EVERY script before committing:

shellcheck script.sh

Fix all warnings. ShellCheck catches:

Unquoted variables
Deprecated syntax
Common bugs and pitfalls
Portability issues

4. Basic Script Structure

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

# Brief description of what this script does

# Simple error reporting
die() {
    echo "Error: ${1}" >&2
    exit 1
}

# Your code here

Core Safety Patterns

Always Quote Variables

Why: Prevents word splitting and globbing disasters.

# Wrong - dangerous
cp $source $destination
rm -rf $prefix/bin

# Correct - safe
cp "${source}" "${destination}"
rm -rf "${prefix}/bin"

# Special case: Always use braces with variables
echo "${var}"      # Good
echo "$var"        # Acceptable but less consistent
echo $var          # Bad - unquoted

Check Required Variables

# Fail fast if required variables aren't set
: "${REQUIRED_VAR:?REQUIRED_VAR must be set}"

# Or with custom message
: "${DATABASE_URL:?DATABASE_URL is required. Set it in .env}"

Validate Inputs

# Check file exists before operating on it
[[ -f "${config_file}" ]] || die "Config file not found: ${config_file}"

# Check command exists before using it
command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1 || die "jq is required but not installed"

# Validate directory before cd
[[ -d "${target_dir}" ]] || die "Directory does not exist: ${target_dir}"

Essential Patterns

Pattern 1: Simple Script Template

Use this for straightforward scripts:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

# Description: Process log files and extract errors

die() {
    echo "Error: ${1}" >&2
    exit 1
}

# Check dependencies
command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1 || die "jq required"

# Validate arguments
[[ $# -eq 1 ]] || die "Usage: ${0} <logfile>"
logfile="${1}"
[[ -f "${logfile}" ]] || die "File not found: ${logfile}"

# Main logic
grep ERROR "${logfile}" | jq -r '.message'

Pattern 2: Cleanup on Exit

Use trap for guaranteed cleanup:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

# Create temp directory and ensure cleanup
tmpdir=$(mktemp -d)
trap 'rm -rf "${tmpdir}"' EXIT

# Now use tmpdir safely - cleanup happens automatically
echo "Working in: ${tmpdir}"

Pattern 3: Safe Function Definition

Functions should be simple and focused:

# Good: Simple, single-purpose function
check_dependency() {
    local cmd="${1}"
    command -v "${cmd}" >/dev/null 2>&1 || die "${cmd} not installed"
}

# Good: Local variables, clear purpose
process_file() {
    local file="${1}"
    local output="${2}"

    [[ -f "${file}" ]] || die "Input file missing: ${file}"

    # Do processing
    sed 's/foo/bar/g' "${file}" > "${output}"
}

Important: Declare and set variables from command substitution separately to catch errors:

# Wrong - hides errors
local result="$(failing_command)"

# Correct - catches errors
local result
result="$(failing_command)"  # Will fail properly with set -e

Pattern 4: Safe Array Handling

Arrays are useful for handling lists with spaces:

# Create array
declare -a files=("file one.txt" "file two.txt" "file three.txt")

# Iterate safely - always quote with [@]
for file in "${files[@]}"; do
    echo "Processing: ${file}"
done

# Build command arguments safely
declare -a flags=(--verbose --output "${output_file}")
mycommand "${flags[@]}" "${input}"

# Read command output into array
mapfile -t lines < <(grep pattern "${file}")

Pattern 5: Conditional Testing

Use [[ ]] for bash (safer and more features):

# File tests
[[ -f "${file}" ]]          # File exists
[[ -d "${dir}" ]]           # Directory exists
[[ -r "${file}" ]]          # File readable
[[ -w "${file}" ]]          # File writable
[[ -x "${binary}" ]]        # File executable

# String tests
[[ -z "${var}" ]]           # String is empty
[[ -n "${var}" ]]           # String is not empty
[[ "${a}" == "${b}" ]]      # String equality (use ==, not =)

# Numeric comparison (use (( )) for numbers)
(( count > 0 ))
(( total >= minimum ))

# Combined conditions
[[ -f "${file}" && -r "${file}" ]] || die "File not readable: ${file}"

Pattern 6: Simple Argument Handling

For simple scripts, prefer positional arguments:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

# For 1-3 arguments, just use positional parameters
[[ $# -eq 2 ]] || die "Usage: ${0} <source> <dest>"

source="${1}"
dest="${2}"

[[ -f "${source}" ]] || die "Source not found: ${source}"

For scripts needing flags, keep it simple:

# Use environment variables instead of complex flag parsing
VERBOSE="${VERBOSE:-false}"
DRY_RUN="${DRY_RUN:-false}"

# Run like: VERBOSE=true DRY_RUN=true ./script.sh input.txt

Pattern 7: Process Substitution Over Temp Files

Avoid creating temporary files when possible:

# Instead of:
first_command > /tmp/output.txt
second_command < /tmp/output.txt
rm /tmp/output.txt

# Use process substitution:
second_command <(first_command)

# For multiple inputs:
diff <(sort file1.txt) <(sort file2.txt)

Pattern 8: Prefer Builtins Over External Commands

Builtins are faster and more reliable:

# Use bash parameter expansion over sed/awk for simple cases
filename="${path##*/}"           # basename
dirname="${path%/*}"             # dirname
extension="${filename##*.}"      # get extension
name="${filename%.*}"            # remove extension

# Use (( )) for arithmetic over expr
count=$(( count + 1 ))           # Not: count=$(expr ${count} + 1)

# Use [[ ]] over [ ] or test
[[ -f "${file}" ]]               # Not: test -f "${file}"

# Use ${#var} for string length
length="${#string}"              # Not: length=$(echo "${string}" | wc -c)

Intermediate Patterns

Pattern 9: Structured Logging

Keep logging simple and consistent:

log() {
    echo "[$(date +'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')] ${1}" >&2
}

error() {
    echo "[$(date +'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')] ERROR: ${1}" >&2
}

# Usage
log "Starting process"
error "Failed to connect to database"

Pattern 10: Main Function Pattern

For longer scripts (50+ lines), use a main function:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

setup() {
    # Dependency checks, variable initialisation
    command -v jq >/dev/null 2>&1 || die "jq required"
}

process() {
    # Main logic here
    log "Processing data"
}

cleanup() {
    # Cleanup if needed
    log "Cleanup complete"
}

main() {
    setup
    process
    cleanup
}

# Call main with all script arguments
main "${@}"

Pattern 11: Idempotent Operations

Scripts should be safe to run multiple times:

# Check before creating
if [[ ! -d "${target_dir}" ]]; then
    mkdir -p "${target_dir}"
fi

# Check before writing config
if [[ ! -f "${config_file}" ]]; then
    echo "DEFAULT_VALUE=true" > "${config_file}"
fi

# Use atomic operations
mv "${source}" "${dest}"  # Atomic on same filesystem

Pattern 12: Safe While Loop Reading

Don't pipe to while (creates subshell):

# Wrong - variables modified in subshell are lost
count=0
cat file.txt | while read -r line; do
    (( count++ ))
done
echo "${count}"  # Will be 0!

# Correct - use process substitution
count=0
while read -r line; do
    (( count++ ))
done < <(cat file.txt)
echo "${count}"  # Correct count

# Or use mapfile for simple cases
mapfile -t lines <file.txt
count="${#lines[@]}"

Style Guidelines

Formatting

Indentation: 2 spaces, never tabs
Line length: Maximum 120 characters
Long strings: Use here-documents or embedded newlines

# Long command - break at logical points
docker run \
    --name my-container \
    --volume "${PWD}:/data" \
    --env "FOO=bar" \
    my-image:latest

# Long string - use here-doc
cat <<EOF
This is a long message
that spans multiple lines
and is more readable this way.
EOF

Naming Conventions

# Functions: lowercase with underscores
check_dependencies() { ... }
process_files() { ... }

# Local variables: lowercase with underscores
local input_file="${1}"
local line_count=0

# Constants/environment variables: UPPERCASE with underscores
readonly MAX_RETRIES=3
readonly CONFIG_DIR="/etc/myapp"

# Source files: lowercase with underscores
# my_library.sh

File Extensions

Executables: .sh extension OR no extension (prefer no extension for user-facing commands)
Libraries: Always .sh extension and NOT executable

Function Documentation

Document functions that aren't obvious:

# Good: Simple function, no comment needed (name says it all)
check_file_exists() {
    [[ -f "${1}" ]]
}

# Good: Complex function, documented
# Processes log files and extracts error messages
# Arguments:
#   $1 - Input log file path
#   $2 - Output directory
# Returns:
#   0 on success, 1 on failure
process_logs() {
    local logfile="${1}"
    local output_dir="${2}"
    # Implementation
}

What to Avoid

Don't Use These

# Don't use backticks - use $()
output=`command`          # Old style
output=$(command)         # Correct

# Don't use eval - almost always wrong
eval "${user_input}"      # Dangerous!

# Don't use expr - use (( ))
result=$(expr 5 + 3)      # Old style
result=$(( 5 + 3 ))       # Correct

# Don't use [ ] when [[ ]] is available
[ -f "${file}" ]          # POSIX compatible, less features
[[ -f "${file}" ]]        # Bash, safer and more features

# Don't use $[ ] for arithmetic - deprecated
result=$[5 + 3]           # Deprecated
result=$(( 5 + 3 ))       # Correct

# Don't use function keyword unnecessarily
function foo() { ... }    # Redundant
foo() { ... }             # Cleaner

Anti-Patterns

# Don't glob or split unquoted
rm ${files}               # DANGEROUS
rm "${files}"             # Safe

# Don't use ls output in scripts
for file in $(ls); do     # Breaks with spaces
for file in *; do         # Correct

# Don't pipe yes to commands
yes | risky-command       # Bypasses important prompts

# Don't ignore error codes
make build                # Did it work?
make build || die "Build failed"  # Better

Complexity Warning Signs

If your script has any of these, consider rewriting in Python/Go:

More than 100 lines
Complex data structures beyond simple arrays
Nested loops over arrays of arrays
Heavy string manipulation logic
Complex state management
Mathematical calculations beyond basic arithmetic
Need for unit testing individual functions
JSON/YAML parsing beyond simple jq queries

Advanced: Dry-Run Pattern

For scripts that modify things:

DRY_RUN="${DRY_RUN:-false}"

run() {
    if [[ "${DRY_RUN}" == "true" ]]; then
        echo "[DRY RUN] ${*}" >&2
        return 0
    fi
    "${@}"
}

# Usage
run cp "${source}" "${dest}"
run rm -f "${old_file}"

# Run script: DRY_RUN=true ./script.sh

Quick Reference Checklist

Before considering a bash script complete:

Summary

Start simple: Don't over-engineer. Most scripts should be <50 lines.
Use ShellCheck: It catches most problems automatically.
Quote everything: "${var}" not $var.
Fail fast: set -euo pipefail and validate inputs.
Know when to stop: If it's getting complex, use a real language.
Compose don't complicate: Use pipes and process substitution.
Be idempotent: Scripts should be safe to run multiple times.
Test error paths: Make sure your script fails safely.

Remember: Shell scripts are for gluing things together, not building complex logic. Keep them simple, safe, and focused.

shell-scripting

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