Shell Scripting Best Practices: Writing Maintainable Scripts
Good shell scripts are maintainable and reliable. This guide covers best practices.
#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail # Exit on error, undefined vars, pipe failures
# Script metadata
# Author: Your Name
# Description: Script purpose
# Version: 1.0
# Exit on error
set -e
# Trap errors
trap 'echo "Error at line $LINENO"' ERR
# Cleanup on exit
trap 'rm -f /tmp/tempfile' EXIT
# Check arguments
if [ $# -lt 2 ]; then
echo "Usage: $0 <arg1> <arg2>"
exit 1
fi
# Validate input
if [ ! -f "$1" ]; then
echo "Error: $1 is not a file"
exit 1
fi
# Define functions
log() {
echo "[$(date +'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')] $*"
}
check_dependencies() {
local deps="curl jq"
for dep in $deps; do
if ! command -v "$dep" &> /dev/null; then
echo "Error: $dep is required"
exit 1
fi
done
}
- Use set -euo pipefail
- Validate inputs
- Use functions
- Add comments
- Handle errors
- Use quotes for variables
- Check return codes
Write maintainable scripts by using proper error handling, input validation, and functions. Follow best practices for reliability.
For Shell Scripting Best Practices: Writing Maintainable Scripts, define pre-deploy checks, rollout gates, and rollback triggers before release. Track p95 latency, error rate, and cost per request for at least 24 hours after deployment. If the trend regresses from baseline, revert quickly and document the decision in the runbook.
Keep the operating model simple under pressure: one owner per change, one decision channel, and clear stop conditions. Review alert quality regularly to remove noise and ensure on-call engineers can distinguish urgent failures from routine variance.
Repeatability is the goal. Convert successful interventions into standard operating procedures and version them in the repository so future responders can execute the same flow without ambiguity.
For Shell Scripting Best Practices: Writing Maintainable Scripts, define pre-deploy checks, rollout gates, and rollback triggers before release. Track p95 latency, error rate, and cost per request for at least 24 hours after deployment. If the trend regresses from baseline, revert quickly and document the decision in the runbook.
Keep the operating model simple under pressure: one owner per change, one decision channel, and clear stop conditions. Review alert quality regularly to remove noise and ensure on-call engineers can distinguish urgent failures from routine variance.
Repeatability is the goal. Convert successful interventions into standard operating procedures and version them in the repository so future responders can execute the same flow without ambiguity.
For Shell Scripting Best Practices: Writing Maintainable Scripts, define pre-deploy checks, rollout gates, and rollback triggers before release. Track p95 latency, error rate, and cost per request for at least 24 hours after deployment. If the trend regresses from baseline, revert quickly and document the decision in the runbook.
Keep the operating model simple under pressure: one owner per change, one decision channel, and clear stop conditions. Review alert quality regularly to remove noise and ensure on-call engineers can distinguish urgent failures from routine variance.
Repeatability is the goal. Convert successful interventions into standard operating procedures and version them in the repository so future responders can execute the same flow without ambiguity.
For Shell Scripting Best Practices: Writing Maintainable Scripts, define pre-deploy checks, rollout gates, and rollback triggers before release. Track p95 latency, error rate, and cost per request for at least 24 hours after deployment. If the trend regresses from baseline, revert quickly and document the decision in the runbook.
Keep the operating model simple under pressure: one owner per change, one decision channel, and clear stop conditions. Review alert quality regularly to remove noise and ensure on-call engineers can distinguish urgent failures from routine variance.
Repeatability is the goal. Convert successful interventions into standard operating procedures and version them in the repository so future responders can execute the same flow without ambiguity.
