Ken Failbus wrote:
> When I specify on command-line "bash -n <myscript name>". Bash doesn't
> check for valid syntax errors. E.g. if variable is missing a "$" infront
> of it while assigning a value. This is not catched by bash.
Unfortunately what you are describing is not a syntax error. It is
perfectly valid syntax and in other contexts will be exactly what is
desired.
> Is there a more specific option that should be specified to bash to
> check for syntax errors.
Since that case is not an error it can't be caught in this way. You
will simply need to test more thoroughly.
> ### example code
> p=hello
> e=world
> If [ p != $e ];then
You should quote the arguments to avoid the error that would be
produced from test if they were not set.
if [ "$p" != "$e" ];then
> echo "not equal"
> else
> echo "equals"
> fi
Consider of this case:
if [ "${a+set}" = set ]; then
echo a is set
else
echo a is not set
fi
There is no way for bash to differentiate "set" from "$set". It will
do exactly what it is told to do and has no way to know what you
_want_ it to do.
Bob
