var is referenced but not assigned.
Problematic code:
var=name
n=42
echo "$var_$n.jpg" # overextended
or
target="world"
echo "hello $tagret" # misspelled
or
echo "Result: ${mycmd -a myfile}" # trying to execute commands
Correct code:
var=name
n=42
echo "${var}_${n}.jpg"
or
target="world"
echo "hello $target"
or
echo "Result: $(mycmd -a myfile)"
Rationale:
ShellCheck has noticed that you reference a variable that is not assigned. Double check that the variable is indeed assigned, and that the name is not misspelled.
Note: This message only triggers for variables with lowercase characters in their name (foo
and kFOO
but not FOO
) due to the standard convention of using lowercase variable names for unexported, local variables.
Exceptions:
ShellCheck intentionally does not attempt to figure out runtime or dynamic assignments like with source "$(date +%F).sh"
or eval var=value
. See SC2034 for an extended discussion of why this is the case.
If you know for a fact that the variable is set, you can use ${var:?}
to fail if the variable is unset (or empty), initialize it to a default value if uninitialized with : "${var:=}"
, or explicitly initialize/declare it with var=""
or declare var
. You can also disable the message with a directive.
Read more:
POSIX - Parameter expansion: