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diff --git a/doc/styleguide.txt b/doc/styleguide.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2251e77 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/styleguide.txt @@ -0,0 +1,134 @@ +Coding Style Guide +================== + +Introduction +------------ +This document attempts to explain the basic styles and patterns that +are used in the bash completion. New code should try to conform to +these standards so that it is as easy to maintain as existing code. +Of course every rule has an exception, but it's important to know +the rules nonetheless! + +This is particularly directed at people new to the bash completion +codebase, who are in the process of getting their code reviewed. +Before getting a review, please read over this document and make +sure your code conforms to the recommendations here. + +Indentation +----------- +Indent step should be 4 spaces, no tabs. + +Globbing in case labels +----------------------- + +Avoid "fancy" globbing in case labels, just use traditional style when +possible. For example, do "--foo|--bar)" instead of "--@(foo|bar))". +Rationale: the former is easier to read, often easier to grep, and +doesn't confuse editors as bad as the latter, and is concise enough. + +[[ ]] vs [ ] +---------------- + +Always use [[ ]] instead of [ ]. Rationale: the former is less error +prone, more featureful, and slightly faster. + +Line wrapping +------------- + +Try to wrap lines at 79 characters. Never go past this limit, unless +you absolutely need to (example: a long sed regular expression, or the +like). This also holds true for the documentation and the testsuite. +Other files, like ChangeLog, or COPYING, are exempt from this rule. + +$(...) vs \`...` +---------------- + +When you need to do some code substitution in your completion script, +you *MUST* use the $(...) construct, rather than the \`...`. The former +is preferable because anyone, with any keyboard layout, is able to +type it. Backticks aren't always available, without doing strange +key combinations. + +-o filenames +------------ + +As a rule of thumb, do not use "complete -o filenames". Doing it makes +it take effect for all completions from the affected function, which +may break things if some completions from the function must not be +escaped as filenames. Instead, use "compopt -o filenames" to turn on +"-o filenames" behavior dynamically when returning completions that +need that kind of processing (e.g. file and command names). The +_filedir and _filedir_xspec helpers do this automatically whenever +they return some completions. + +[[ ${COMPREPLY-} == *= ]] && compopt -o nospace +------------------------------------------------ + +The above is functionally a shorthand for: +---- +if [[ ${#COMPREPLY[@]} -eq 1 && ${COMPREPLY[0]} == *= ]]; then + compopt -o nospace +fi +---- +It is used to ensure that long options' name won't get a space +appended after the equal sign. Calling compopt -o nospace makes sense +in case completion actually occurs: when only one completion is +available in COMPREPLY. + +$split && return +---------------- + +Should be used in completions using the -s flag of _init_completion, +or other similar cases where _split_longopt has been invoked, after +$prev has been managed but before $cur is considered. If $cur of the +form --foo=bar was split into $prev=--foo and $cur=bar and the $prev +block did not process the option argument completion, it makes sense +to return immediately after the $prev block because --foo obviously +takes an argument and the remainder of the completion function is +unlikely to provide meaningful results for the required argument. +Think of this as a catch-all for unknown options requiring an +argument. + +Note that even when using this, options that are known to require an +argument but for which we don't have argument completion should be +explicitly handled (non-completed) in the $prev handling block because +--foo=bar options can often be written without the equals sign, and in +that case the long option splitting does not occur. + +Use arithmetic evaluation +------------------------- + +When dealing with numeric data, take advantage of arithmetic evaluation. +In essence, use (( ... )) whenever it can replace [[ ... ]] because the +syntax is more readable; no need for $-prefixes, numeric comparison etc +operators are more familiar and easier on the eye. + +Array subscript access +---------------------- + +Array subscripts are arithmetic expressions, take advantage of that. +E.g. write ${foo[bar]}, not ${foo[$bar]}, and similarly ${foo[bar+1]} +vs ${foo[((bar+1))]} or ${foo[$((bar+1))]}, ${foo[--i]} vs ${foo[((--i))]}. + +Loop variable names +------------------- + +Use i, j, k for loop-local indices; n and m for lengths; some other descriptive +name typically based on array name but in singular when looping over actual +values. If an index or value is to be accessed later on instead of being just +locally for looping, use a more descriptive and specific name for it. + +///////////////////////////////////////// +case/esac vs if +--------------- + +quoting +------- + +awk vs cut for simple cases +--------------------------- + +variable and function naming +---------------------------- + +///////////////////////////////////////// |