✍️ Working on bash

[!INFORMATION] Disclaimer: This page is just one opinion. This is not the best way to work on bash scripts, this is just an explanation of how I work.

IDE

I work with VS code on windows + WSL.

Install VS code from here.

VS code extensions

Here is a list of recommended extensions to work on bash scripts:

• Bash IDE
• Debug bash scripts
• Shell Script Command Completion
• Better comments
• Better shellscript syntax
• Code spell checker
• EditorConfig
• Indent rainbow
• Format shell script
• Shellcheck
• Snippets manager
• Snippets for bash scripts
• Snippets for shebang

GitHub Copilot is of great help if you can have it. You can also find the list of extensions here.

VS code settings

You can open your ~/.valet.d directory as a workspace on vscode.

I recommend to copy (or link) the extras/all-valet-functions.sh file present in the Valet installation to ~/.valet.d/.vscode/all-valet-functions.sh in your workspace folder and add the following settings in your ~/.valet.d/.vscode/settings.json:

{
  "bashIde.includeAllWorkspaceSymbols": true
}

This allows you to have autocompletion and help on the core and libraries functions:

Alternatively, you can use the Valet vscode snippets:

• copy this file in your repository under the .vscode directory (you can chose to ignore this in git or push it).
• or copy this file as shellscript.json in your user snippets folder (%APPDATA%\Code\User\snippets in windows).

Where to start your bash journey

• The official bash documentation / Alternate view on devdocs.io
• Advanced bash scripting guide
• Google shell style guidelines
• Baeldung Linux scripting series
• Pure bash bible