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This extension contains snippets and functions to help with writing bash scripts. It includes, menus, parse options, text coloring, declaring functions, finding and listing files and directories and many more snippets. View the complete snippet list.

Features

Snippets to help with bash development.

Included snippets:

Boiler plate Type Bash Boilerplate to create a new bash from scratch.
Frame type frame to create a function that prints a framed text to the terminal.
Menu Type menuOptions to create a bash script menu, allowing the user to select text options using the up and down arrow keys.
Creating functions
- type function to create a new function with comments
- type function 1 argument to create a new function which accepts one parameter
- type function 2 arguments to create a new function which accepts two parameter
- type function 3 arguments to create a new function which accepts three parameter
coloring text Type TextColors to change the color of printed terminal text.
help Type printHelp To create a help function for your bash script.
Validate bash parameters Type parseOptions to create a function for validating if parameters given to your bash script are correct.
Does user have superuser privileges Type is super to check if user has superuser privileges(root).
Disk snippets
- Does file or directory exist
- List files or directories
- Set or get values from a ini configuration file
Time snippets
- Calulate time difference and add time
String snippets
- Match substring within a string
- Search for string prefix
- Search for postfix
Many more A complete snippet list can be found in the table below.

Usage example

Boiler plate

This is how the snippet Boiler plate can be used to create a bash file, with help and check for invalid parameters, making it runnable and test it.

Boilerplate

Frame

How to write text inside a box to the terminal using the function frame.

frame

List of all snippets

Prefix is what you type to select the desired snippet.

Prefix	Title	Description
time diff	Time difference HH:mm:ss	Calculate time difference
time now	Current time	Print current time on the format HH:mm:ss
date and time now	Current date & time	Print current time on the format YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss
time in future	Add to current time	Add to current time
file exists	Checks if a file is found	Checks if a file is found
dir exists	Checks if a directory is found	Checks if a Directory is found
list files	Iterate files in directory	Walk through each file name in a directory
list dirs	Iterate only directories in directory	Walk through each sub-directory name in a directory
list files recursive	Iterate files in directory recursive	Iterate file names in directory recursive. That is, walking through sub-directories also.
list files recursive reg	Iterate files in directory recursive regex	Iterate file names in directory recursively using regex. That is, walking through sub-directories also.
list dirs recursive	Iterate directories in directory	Iterate directory names in directory recursively. That is, walking through sub-directories also.
compare filenames in dir	Compare file names in two directories	Compare file names in two directories and prints out matching or missing file names
get script dir	Script directory	Get path to the the current bash file
get script name	Script Name	Get name of current script
get file name	Extract filename	Extracts filename name from a file path
get file directory	Extract file directory	Extracts directory from a file path.
get file extension	Extract file extension	Extract file extension from a file path.
read text file	Read on line at a time	Read a text file one line at a time
ini file get value, ini file read value, iniGetSectionKeyValue, getIniSectionKeyValue	Read a value from a ini file	Get a value of a key(variable) under specified section in a configuration file
ini file set value, ini file write value, iniSetSectionKeyValue, setIniSectionKeyValue	Save a value to a ini file	Add or change a section key value pair in a file
bash, shebang, start	Start of bash	Start of bash
That is shell scripts should start with this command
created, file created	File creation time	Add comment with file name and, file creation time
source sh	source sh	Import another another shell script
declare array	declare array	Declare a new array and add initialize it.
text colors	Text Color commands	Text Color commands
terminal colors, text colors table	Show all terminal text colors	Show all terminal text colors and a example on how to use colors with echo
function	Function	Create a function which takes no argument
function 1 argument	Function 1 argument	Create a function which takes 1 argument
function 2 arguments	Function 2 arguments	Create a function which takes 2 arguments
function 3 arguments	Function 3 arguments	Create a function which takes 3 arguments
print help	Script help function	Script help function
print help, one option	Help function with one option	Help function with one option
print help, one option, one option argument	Help function with one option and one option argument	Help function with one option and one option argument
boilerplate 1	Boilerplate simple	Boilerplate simple Hello bash world
boilerplate 2	Boilerplate, simple one option	Boilerplate bash script with help that accepts one optional parameter
boilerplate 3	Boilerplate, one option, one option argument	Boilerplate with one option and one option which requires a argument
boilerplate 4	Boilerplate plus, one option, one option argument	Boilerplate with one true or false option and an option that requires a argument. The snippet boilerplate 4 allows users to give scripts options which require arguments on the form `myScript.sh -variable="value here"` like boilerplate 3 but it also supports the old format myScript.sh -variable "value here". allowing users to use both formats and there for, making globbing possible. That is use the ~ symbol to expand the home directory and tabbing to complete the paths while user types in the argument value.
parse options	Check if all options are valid and saves each in a variable	Check if all options are valid and saves each in a variable
is super, is root, is sudo	Only allow super user to run this script	Only allow super user to run this script.
frame	Frame your text	Frame your text
menuOptions	Select pre defined option	Select pre defined option
arrayContains	Searches for an string within an array of strings	Searches for an string within an array of strings
for number	For number loop	For loop with a number condition variable
for number braces	For number in braces	For loop with brace expansion
case example	Case Example	Case Statement Example
case	Case	Case statement
extract argument name	Extract argument name from option	Extracts a name from a given argument which is on the form -name=value or name="value with spaces"
extract argument value	Extract argument value from option	Extracts a value from a given argument which is on the form name=value or name="value with spaces"
extract filename, remove directory from path, remove prefix from path	Extracts filename from the last argument	Extracts filename from the last argument and echos out all all arguments, where the last argument has been stripped of preceding path or url
is script sourced	Is script sourced	Check if your script is being sourced or not. That is, if f.example environment variables created will effect the calling shell
is command installed	Is command installed	Check if a command is installed
string prefix length	Prefix search known length	Check if a string starts with a specific text and is of a specific lengthS
string starts with	Prefix search with wildcard	Check if string starts with using wild card
string ends with	Postfix search	Check if string ends with
string cut	Substring with cut	Examples when extracting substring from a string using cut. (For when bash version is old)
replace text in file	Replace text in a file	Replace texts in a file that match a specified substring
replace text in file that starts with	Replace trailing text in a file that starts with	Replace trailing texts in a file that begin with a specified substring
create text file	Create multiline file	Create a text file with multiple lines
string remove trailing numbers	String remove trailing numbers	Function to removes all digits from the end of a string
string substring, extract sub string	Extract text between two tokens	Extract text between two tokens
string trim	Trim string	Remove leading and/or trailing whitespace characters

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Reading material

Some reading material which could be helpful when working with bash.

Bash Guide for Beginners
Reference Manual or view it as a single page

sheller

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