1
0
mirror of https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck.git synced 2025-03-12 12:35:25 -07:00

Created SC2320 (markdown)

Vidar Holen 2022-07-23 10:12:04 -07:00
parent 0c99f0bb02
commit fe4f3036f9

40
SC2320.md Normal file

@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
## This $? refers to echo/printf, not a previous command. Assign to variable to avoid it being overwritten.
### Problematic code:
```sh
mycommand
echo "Command exited with $?"
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then
echo "Failed"
fi
```
### Correct code:
```sh
mycommand
ret=$?
echo "Command exited with $ret"
if [ $ret -ne 0 ]
then
echo "Failed"
fi
```
### Rationale:
ShellCheck found a `$?` that always refers to `echo` or `printf`.
This most commonly happens when trying to show `$?` before doing something with it, without realizing that any such action will also overwrite `$?`.
In the problematic example, `echo "Command exited with $?"` was intended to show the exit code before acting on it, but the act of showing `$?` also overwrote it, so the condition is always false. The solution is to assign `$?` to a variable first, so that it can be used repeatedly.
### Exceptions:
If you intentionally refer to `echo` to get the result of a write, you can ignore this message. Alternatively, write it out as in `if echo $$ > "$pidfile"; then status=0; else status=1; fi`
### Related resources:
* Help by adding links to BashFAQ, StackOverflow, man pages, POSIX, etc!