MCmcc1ane·Jul 26, 2026
In A shell colon does nothing. Use it anywayanordal
shellharden
Rust2018–2026
anordal / shellharden
shellharden
The corrective bash syntax highlighter
15Distinct people
21Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
4.8KGitHub stars
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What it is
The corrective bash syntax highlighter
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
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Also in these discussions
- colis-anr/morbig · linked in 2 of the same discussions
- mvdan/sh · linked in 2 of the same discussions
- rust-shell-script/rust_cmd_lib · linked in 2 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:56:07 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year21 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2018-05-13 06:24:46 UTC to 2026-07-26 10:14:29 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 1 | 2 |
What Hacker News says
21 sourcesSafe ways to do things in bash (2023)
35 points · Open discussionComplementary - https://github.com/anordal/shellharden/blob/master/how_to_do...
In Advanced Bash-Scripting GuideSee also:
Why doesn't set -e (or set -o errexit, or trap ERR) do what I expected?
https://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/105
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using set -u (or set -o nounset)?
https://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/112
Safe ways to do things in bash https://github.com/anordal/shellharden/blob/master/how_to_do...
Better Bash Scripting in 15 Minutes https://robertmuth.blogspot.com/2012/08/better-bash-scriptin...
Writing Robust Bash Shell Scripts https://www.davidpashley.com/articles/writing-robust-shell-s...
In Bash DebuggingEverytime I see Shellcheck coming up, I have to mention shellharden[0] written by a colleague of mine. It is basically shellcheck but it applies the suggested changes automatically.
0: https://github.com/anordal/shellharden
In Shellcheck finds bugs in your shell scriptsSee also:
* safe ways to do things in bash: https://github.com/anordal/shellharden/blob/master/how_to_do...
* better scripting: https://robertmuth.blogspot.in/2012/08/better-bash-scripting...
* robust scripting: https://www.davidpashley.com/articles/writing-robust-shell-s...
In Shell script best practices, from a decade of scripting thingsI moved over to shellharden a while ago. It can actually apply the suggestions it makes. Aside from that, my employer is somewhat disapproving for GPLv3 tools, but MPL that shellharden uses is essentially auto-approved.
https://github.com/anordal/shellharden
In Why doesn't Bash’s ‘set -e’ do what I expected? (2021)See also:
* https://www.shellcheck.net/ — linting tool to avoid common mistakes and improve your script
* Bash Practices: https://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashGuide/Practices
* Bash FAQ: https://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ
* safe ways to do things in bash: https://github.com/anordal/shellharden/blob/master/how_to_do...
* better scripting: https://robertmuth.blogspot.in/2012/08/better-bash-scripting...
* robust scripting: https://www.davidpashley.com/articles/writing-robust-shell-s...
In Bash PitfallsThere is also https://github.com/nixpulvis/oursh which wants to be POSIX compatible with its own extensions. Actually I would prefer if a new shell focuses on bash compatibility.
If features are integrated, then I would probably want to have something about error handling because it is difficult to get right in bash even with shellcheck¹ plus shellharden², and gets just worse when things run in parallel.
¹ https://www.shellcheck.net/
² https://github.com/anordal/shellharden
In Nsh: A fish/bash-like Posix shell in RustSome other shell script check and formatting tools:
All shells take the -n option to perform a basic syntax check.
Debian has a script for checking scripts for bashisms:
https://manpages.debian.org/checkbashisms
bashate is a automated style checker for bash (similar to pep8 for python):
https://opendev.org/openstack/bashate
lintshell is an early prototype of a shell linter based on the Morbig trustworthy static parser for POSIX shell, based on the Why3 platform for deductive program verification.
https://www.irif.fr/~treinen/colis/ https://github.com/colis-anr/morbig https://github.com/colis-anr/lintshell
Shellharden helps rewrite scripts for ShellCheck compliance:
https://github.com/anordal/shellharden/
shfmt is gofmt for shell:
https://github.com/mvdan/sh
ShellScriptFormatter is another formatter:
https://github.com/osalvador/ShellScrip
Read the rest
tFormatter
Some of these tools and other tools can be automatically run by check-all-the-things:
https://github.com/collab-qa/check-all-the-things/
How to do things safely in Bash (2018)
173 points · Open discussionSome other shell script check and formatting tools:
All shells take the -n option to perform a basic syntax check.
Debian has a script for checking scripts for bashisms:
https://manpages.debian.org/checkbashisms
bashate is a automated style checker for bash (similar to pep8 for python):
https://opendev.org/openstack/bashate
lintshell is an early prototype of a shell linter based on the Morbig trustworthy static parser for POSIX shell, based on the Why3 platform for deductive program verification.
https://www.irif.fr/~treinen/colis/
https://github.com/colis-anr/morbig
https://github.com/colis-anr/lintshell
Shellharden helps rewrite scripts for ShellCheck compliance:
https://github.com/anordal/shellharden/
shfmt is gofmt for shell:
https://github.com/mvdan/sh
ShellScriptFormatter is another formatter:
https://github.com/osalvador/ShellScrip
Read the rest
tFormatter
Some of these tools and other tools can be automatically run by check-all-the-things:
https://github.com/collab-qa/check-all-the-things/
I haven't used it, but I have seen something similar called shellharden. It pitches it's advantage as being able to auto apply the changes.
https://github.com/anordal/shellharden
In ShellCheck: A static analysis tool for shell scriptsHere's my full bash reading list:
- ShellCheck: life-changing BASH linter and testing toolkit https://github.com/koalaman/shellcheck
- 30 interesting commands for the Linux shell – Víctor López Ferrando https://www.lopezferrando.com/30-interesting-shell-commands/
- 7 Surprising Bash Variables https://zwischenzugs.com/2019/05/11/seven-surprising-bash-va...
- anordal/shellharden https://github.com/anordal/shellharden/blob/master/how_to_do...
- barryclark/bashstrap https://github.com/barryclark/bashstrap
- BashPitfalls : Greg's Wiki http://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashPitfalls
- Common shell script mistakes
Read the rest
http://www.pixelbeat.org/programming/shell_script_mistakes.h...
- Comparison of all the UNIX shells http://hyperpolyglot.org/unix-shells
- Defensive Bash Programming https://www.kfirlavi.com/blog/2012/11/14/defensive-bash-prog... or https://jonlabelle.com/snippets/view/markdown/defensive-bash...
- Bash FAQ and Cookbook https://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ
- Detecting the use of "curl | bash" server side https://idontplaydarts.com/2016/04/detecting-curl-pipe-bash-...
- Gensokyo Blog - Use Bash Builtins shell,fish,bash https://blog.gensokyo.io/a/fafbe742.html
- Rich’s sh (POSIX shell) tricks http://www.etalabs.net/sh_tricks.html
- Shell Scripts Matter https://dev.to/thiht/shell-scripts-matter
- Shell Style Guide https://google.github.io/styleguide/shell.xml
- Shellcode Injection - Dhaval Kapil https://dhavalkapil.com/blogs/Shellcode-Injection/
- Something you didn't know about functions in bash http://catonmat.net/blog/bash-functions
- Ten More Things I Wish I’d Known About bash https://zwischenzugs.com/2018/01/21/ten-more-things-i-wish-i...
- Ten Things I Wish I’d Known About bash https://zwischenzugs.com/2018/01/06/ten-things-i-wish-id-kno...
- Testing Bash scripts with BATS https://opensource.com/article/19/2/testing-bash-bats
- Testing Bash scripts with Critic.sh https://github.com/Checksum/critic.sh
- Useful BASH and UNIX commands https://cb.vu/unixtoolbox.xhtml
- When Bash Scripts Bite :: Jane Street Tech Blogs https://blogs.janestreet.com/when-bash-scripts-bite/
- Bashible: Ansible-like framework for bash-based devops https://github.com/mig1984/bashible
- Auto-parse help text from comment at the top of script https://samizdat.dev/help-message-for-shell-scripts/
- Make bash scripts safer by writing them in Rust https://github.com/rust-shell-script/rust_cmd_lib
- Additional shell options for non-trivial bash scripts https://saveriomiroddi.github.io/Additional-shell-options-fo...
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