The snippet library.
Small, practical examples. Search by task or narrow things down below.
Check a script’s syntax without executing its body
Bash Scripts: bash -n parses commands but does not run ordinary script statements.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Check for an installed command
Bash Scripts: command -v checks command resolution without assuming a specific installation path.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Check whether a function has been defined
Bash Scripts: declare -F tests a function name without executing it.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Check whether a variable exists under nounset
Bash Scripts: The plus expansion distinguishes an unset variable without reading its missing value.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Distinguish an empty input line from end of input
Bash Scripts: A successful read can return an empty value; its status indicates whether a line was read.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Identify whether a name resolves to a builtin
Bash Scripts: type -t reports the command kind without printing a machine-specific path.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Inspect every command status in a pipeline
Bash Scripts: Copy PIPESTATUS immediately before another command overwrites it.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Prevent a variable value from expanding as a filename pattern
Bash Scripts: Quote a variable to pass its literal contents even when matching filenames exist.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Refuse to overwrite an existing file with redirection
Bash Scripts: Noclobber makes a plain greater-than redirection fail when the target already exists.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested
Reject a missing required configuration value
Bash Scripts: Check a required value explicitly and emit a controlled diagnostic before exiting.
Bash Scripts✓ Tested