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Welcome to this comprehensive guide on shell scripting conventions. Consistent coding style makes scripts more readable, maintainable, and approachable—whether you’re working solo or as part of a team.
SectionDescription
What Are Coding Conventions?Definitions and real-world analogies
Benefits of a Unified StyleHow consistency boosts readability and reduces bugs
Recommended Shell Script ConventionsNaming patterns, formatting rules, and directory organization

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What Are Coding Conventions?

Coding conventions are agreed-upon practices that determine how code is structured and named. Much like social norms guide behavior in gatherings, technical conventions help developers understand each other’s work at a glance.

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Why Consistent Style Matters

In any engineering discipline—from aircraft cockpit layouts to network topologies—standardized designs enhance safety and efficiency. In software, conventions:
  • Reduce cognitive load when switching between projects
  • Simplify onboarding for new contributors
  • Prevent subtle bugs caused by inconsistent formatting
Conventions focus on style, not interpreter rules. Violating them won’t usually break your code, but following them makes future maintenance far easier.
The image is a circular diagram labeled "Easy to Understand," divided into three sections: "Readable," "Maintainable," and "Easier," each in different colors.

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Shell Script Conventions: Naming & Style

Below are high-level recommendations for shell scripts. We’ll dive into each in detail later.
  • Use lowercase, snake_case for variable names (e.g., user_home)
  • Prefix boolean flags with is_ or has_ (e.g., is_enabled)
  • Name functions with verbs and snake_case (e.g., backup_database)
  • Indent with two spaces for readability
  • Organize scripts into bin/, lib/, and conf/ directories

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Community Standards in Other Languages

Languages like Java and Python have de facto style guides that virtually every developer follows—think PEP 8 or Google’s Java Style Guide. In those ecosystems, naming functions, classes, and methods requires little debate.
The image shows an overview checklist with items like "Naming Functions," "Variables," "Methods," and "Classes," each marked with a checkmark. It has a dark background with a small star icon on the left.
Shell scripting hasn’t settled on one universal standard, so teams often craft their own. Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned scripter, adopting these guidelines will sharpen your skills and improve collaboration.

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Scope & Getting Started

This guide targets style—naming conventions, file layouts, and formatting—rather than performance optimizations or interpreter quirks. For example, the following assignments behave differently at runtime: 
file="somefile.txt"  # ✅ Valid: no spaces around =
file= "somefile.txt" # ❌ Runtime error: unexpected token
Shell interpreters enforce certain rules (like no spaces around = in assignments). Always validate your scripts with ShellCheck before deployment.
If you already follow a style guide, feel free to refactor the examples here. If you’re new to conventions, adopt these recommendations to jump-start your productivity.

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Further Reading

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