What is a Bash Linter and How to Use it
A lint, or linter, is a utility tool used to check for errors in programming scripts. Also, lint helps to analyze code and check for bugs and stylistic errors. That said, a bash linter is a tool used by Linux programmers to check for bugs, errors, and suspicious constructs in bash shell scripts.
Here you will find out:
- what a ShellCheck is
- how you can use a ShellCheck
- how to install shell script syntax checker
- when DiskInternals can help you
Are you ready? Let's read!
ShellCheck is a bash linter
For Linux system operators, ShellCheck is a GPLv3 tool that helps to check for errors in bash/sh shell scripts. ShellCheck is a bash linter, a static analysis tool for bash and sh shell scripts. If you want to know if there’s a bug in a script, you can make use of this tool. Using the ShellCheck tool will definitely increase your productivity. This bash linter can identify syntax issues, semantic problems, subtle caveats, corner cases, and pitfalls that may lead to errors when running your scripts.
How ShellCheck can be used
There are quite a number of ways to use ShellCheck, the bash linter.
On your terminal
Simply run “shellcheckyourscript” for instant output.
On the web
Paste the shell script you want to check into https://www.shellcheck.net
Using an editor
ShellCheck is available on the following editors:
- Vim: use ALE, Neomake, or Syntastic
- Emacs: use Flycheck or Flymake
- Sublime Edit: use SublimeLinter
- Atom: use AtomLinter
- VSCode: use vscode-shellcheck
In your build or test suites
ShellCheck can be added to builds or test suites, even though it is actually meant for interactive use. You can add a ShellCheck command as part of the process, since it uses the exit codes.
Install this bash script checker
On a local system, the easiest way to install this tool is by using a package manager. It is advisable to manually install a specific ShellCheck version.
Installing on systems with Cabal
This will install ShellCheck to ~/.cabal/bin.
On Debian/Ubuntu Linux
Or
Gentoo-based distros:
Installing on stack systems
Installs to ~/.local/bin.
Arch Linux distros
EPEL-based distros:
Installing on OS X with homebrew
Not only for interactive use
ShellCheck is not only for interactive use; thus, it can be integrated with test suites and builds. Also, some platforms and services have ShellCheck pre-installed on them. The platforms and services include Travis CI, Code Climate, Github (Linux), Codacy, Code Factor, and GitLab. SonarQube also supports ShellCheck; however, it requires sonar-shellcheck-plugin. If you work on any of these platforms, then you may not need to install ShellCheck on your system.
Use Linux Reader in Windows
Quite a lot of people are already using DiskInternals Linux Reader to open Linux files on Windows. DiskInternals Linux Reader is an intuitive freeware software tool with an easy-to-read and navigable interface. It appears to be the best utility tool for dual-boot setup users and virtual machine users. This software scans Windows PCs to fetch all the Linux partitions and then allow you to access the important files inside. Linux Reader provides access to the following file systems: Ext2/3/4, ReiserFS, Reiser4, HFS, HFS+, FAT, exFAT, NTFS, ReFS, UFS2, RomFS(reader), ZFS (preview only*), XFS (preview only*), Hikvision NAS and DVR (preview only*). It is a handy tool for every programmer.
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