| 1 | ---
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| 2 | default_highlighter: oils-sh
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| 3 | ---
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| 4 |
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| 5 | Shell Language Idioms
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| 6 | =====================
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| 7 |
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| 8 | These are like the [YSH vs. Shell Idioms](idioms.html), but the advice also
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| 9 | applies to other Unix shells.
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| 10 |
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| 11 | <div id="toc">
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| 12 | </div>
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| 13 |
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| 14 | ## Style
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| 15 |
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| 16 | ### Use Only `"$@"`
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| 17 |
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| 18 | There's no reason to use anything but `"$@"`. All the other forms like `$*`
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| 19 | can be disallowed, because if you want to join to a string, you can write:
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| 20 |
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| 21 | joined_str="$@"
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| 22 |
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| 23 | The same advice applies to arrays. You can always use `"${myarray[@]}"`; you
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| 24 | never need to use `${myarray[*]}` or any other form.
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| 25 |
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| 26 | Related: [Thirteen Incorrect Ways and Two Awkward Ways to Use
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| 27 | Arrays](http://www.oilshell.org/blog/2016/11/06.html)
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| 28 |
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| 29 | ### Prefer `test` to `[`
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| 30 |
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| 31 | Idiomatic OSH code doesn't use "puns".
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| 32 |
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| 33 | No:
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| 34 |
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| 35 | [ -d /tmp ]
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| 36 |
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| 37 | Yes:
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| 38 |
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| 39 | test -d /tmp
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| 40 |
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| 41 | The [simple_test_builtin](ref/chap-option.html#ysh:all) option enforces this.
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| 42 |
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| 43 | ## Use Statically Parsed Language Constructs
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| 44 |
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| 45 | Static parsing is one of the [syntactic concepts](syntactic-concepts.html). It
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| 46 | leads to better error messages, earlier error messages, and lets tools
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| 47 | understand your code.
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| 48 |
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| 49 | ### `test` Should Only Have 2 or 3 Arguments
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| 50 |
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| 51 | In POSIX, the `test` builtin has a lot of unnecessary flexibility, which leads
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| 52 | to bugs.
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| 53 |
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| 54 | See [Problems With the test Builtin: What Does -a
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| 55 | Mean?](//www.oilshell.org/blog/2017/08/31.html)
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| 56 |
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| 57 | No:
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| 58 |
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| 59 | test ! -d /tmp
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| 60 | test -d /tmp -a -d /tmp/foo
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| 61 |
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| 62 | Yes:
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| 63 |
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| 64 | ! test -d /tmp
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| 65 | test -d /tmp && test -d /tmp/foo
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| 66 |
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| 67 | The [simple_test_builtin](ref/chap-option.html#ysh:all) option enforces that
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| 68 | `test` receives 3 or fewer arguments.
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| 69 |
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| 70 | ### Prefer Shell Functions to Aliases
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| 71 |
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| 72 | Functions subsume all the common uses of alias, and can be parsed statically.
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| 73 |
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| 74 | No:
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| 75 |
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| 76 | alias ll='ls -l'
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| 77 |
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| 78 | Yes:
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| 79 |
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| 80 | ll() { # Shell Style
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| 81 | ls -l "$@"
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| 82 | }
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| 83 |
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| 84 | proc ll { # YSH Style
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| 85 | ls -l @ARGV
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| 86 | }
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| 87 |
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| 88 | If you're wrapping an external command with a function of the same, use the
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| 89 | [command](ref/chap-builtin-cmd.html#command) builtin:
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| 90 |
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| 91 | proc ls {
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| 92 | command ls --color @ARGV
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| 93 | }
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| 94 |
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| 95 | ### Prefer `$'\n'` to `echo -e`
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| 96 |
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| 97 | No:
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| 98 |
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| 99 | echo -e '\n' # arg to -e is dynamically parsed
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| 100 |
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| 101 | Yes:
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| 102 |
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| 103 | echo $'\n' # statically parsed
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| 104 |
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| 105 | ## How to Fix Code That `strict_errexit` Disallows
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| 106 |
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| 107 | The `strict_errexit` feature warns you when you would **lose errors** in shell
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| 108 | code.
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| 109 |
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| 110 | ### The `local d=$(date %x)` Pitfall
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| 111 |
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| 112 | No:
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| 113 |
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| 114 | local d=$(date %x) # ignores failure
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| 115 |
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| 116 | Yes:
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| 117 |
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| 118 | local d
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| 119 | d=$(date %x) # fails properly
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| 120 |
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| 121 | Better YSH style:
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| 122 |
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| 123 | var d = $(date %x) # fails properly
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| 124 |
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| 125 | ### Variations With `readonly` and `export`
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| 126 |
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| 127 | In these cases, the builtin comes after the assignment.
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| 128 |
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| 129 | No:
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| 130 |
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| 131 | readonly d1=$(date %x)
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| 132 | export d2=$(date %x)
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| 133 |
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| 134 | Yes:
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| 135 |
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| 136 | d1=$(date %x)
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| 137 | readonly d1
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| 138 |
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| 139 | d2=$(date %x)
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| 140 | export d2
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| 141 |
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| 142 |
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| 143 | ### The `if myfunc` Pitfall
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| 144 |
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| 145 | No:
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| 146 |
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| 147 | if myfunc; then
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| 148 | echo 'Success'
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| 149 | fi
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| 150 |
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| 151 | Shell workaround when the *$0 Dispatch Pattern* is used:
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| 152 |
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| 153 | myfunc() {
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| 154 | echo hi
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| 155 | }
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| 156 |
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| 157 | mycaller() {
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| 158 | if $0 myfunc; then # $0 starts this script as a new process
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| 159 | echo 'Success'
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| 160 | fi
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| 161 | }
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| 162 |
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| 163 | "$@" # invoked like myscript.sh mycaller arg1 arg2 ...
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| 164 |
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| 165 |
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| 166 | Better YSH Style:
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| 167 |
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| 168 | try myfunc
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| 169 | if (_status === 0)
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| 170 | echo 'Success'
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| 171 | }
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| 172 |
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| 173 |
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| 174 | ## Remove Dynamic Parsing
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| 175 |
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| 176 | ### Replacing `declare -i`, `local -i`, ...
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| 177 |
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| 178 | The `-i` flag on assignment builtins doesn't add any functionality to bash —
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| 179 | it's merely a different and confusing style.
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| 180 |
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| 181 | OSH doesn't support it; instead it has *true integers*.
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| 182 |
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| 183 | For example, don't rely on "punning" of the `+=` operator; use `$(( ))`
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| 184 | instead.
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| 185 |
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| 186 | No:
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| 187 |
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| 188 | declare -i x=3
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| 189 | x+=1 # Now it's '4' because += will do integer arithmetic
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| 190 |
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| 191 | Yes (shell style):
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| 192 |
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| 193 | x=3
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| 194 | x=$(( x + 1 )) # No -i flag needed
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| 195 |
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| 196 | Yes (YSH style):
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| 197 |
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| 198 | var x = 3
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| 199 | setvar x += 1
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| 200 |
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| 201 | Likewise, don't rely on dynamic parsing of arithmetic.
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| 202 |
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| 203 | No:
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| 204 |
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| 205 | declare -i x
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| 206 | x='1 + 2' # Now it's the string '3'
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| 207 |
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| 208 | Yes (shell style):
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| 209 |
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| 210 | x=$(( 1 + 2 ))
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| 211 |
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| 212 | Yes (YSH style):
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| 213 |
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| 214 | var x = 1 + 2
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| 215 |
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| 216 |
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