Created SC3017 (markdown)

Vidar Holen
2020-09-01 18:08:12 -07:00
parent ee003e4558
commit ea4ead2bab

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SC3017.md Normal file

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## In POSIX sh, unary `-a` in place of `-e` is undefined.
(or "In dash, ... is not supported." when using `dash`)
### Problematic code:
```sh
#!/bin/sh
if [ -a file.txt ]
then
echo "file.txt exists"
fi
```
### Correct code:
```sh
#!/bin/sh
if [ -e file.txt ]
then
echo "file.txt exists"
fi
```
### Rationale:
`-a` was used in some shells to check for the existence of a file, but the POSIX standard and better supported equivalent is `-e`.
### Exceptions:
If you only intend to target shells that supports this feature, you can change
the shebang to a shell that guarantees support, or [[ignore]] this warning.
You can use `# shellcheck disable=SC3000-SC4000` to ignore all such compatibility
warnings.
### Related resources:
* Help by adding links to BashFAQ, StackOverflow, man pages, POSIX, etc!