4 ms·

I do really like the implementation of help text: function bocker_help() { #HELP Display this message:\nBOCKER help sed -n "s/^.*#HELP\\s//p;" < "$1"

I do really like the implementation of help text: function bocker_help() { #HELP Display this message:\nBOCKER help sed -n "s/^.*#HELP\\s//p;" < "$1" | sed "s/\\\\n/\n\t/g;s/$/\n/;s!BOCKER!${1/!/\\!}!g" }

_def 7y ago
It'd be even better if the help texts would be readable in the source, but that would cost some lines for sure
- phinnaeus 7y ago
  Do you just mean without the escaped newline characters? Because the fact that they serve as function comments is exactly what I found to be novel about it.
  - _def 7y ago
    I like the idea too but just the thought of needing to go through those text blocks to edit them makes me sad
- vfinn 7y ago
  What do you mean? They are in the source.
t0mek 7y ago
Initially I thought that bash supports reflection and is able to get the function contents, including comments. But this function scans its own script file ($1), looking for the comments starting with #HELP and formatting them. This way the usage info can live near the functions implementing sub-commands.
- andreineculau 7y ago
  Yup. It is a nice trick that you might find more often in Makefile. I have a make target that does this consistently in all the makefiles I write: https://github.com/andreineculau/core.inc.mk/blob/master/target.help.inc.mk https://github.com/andreineculau/core.inc.mk/blob/master/tar... target1: ## Do this target2: target3: target2 ## Do that would be nicely formatted as the output of `make help` into Available targets: target1 Do this target2 Do that and if you want to see all targets along with their origin file, even those without help messages, type `make help-all` to render Available targets: target1 path/to/Makefile Do this target2 path/to/Makefile target3 path/to/Makefile Do that
- einpoklum 7y ago
  > Initially I thought that bash supports reflection ... But this function scans its own script file That certainly counts as reflection in the context of shell scripting... :-P

_def 7y ago

It'd be even better if the help texts would be readable in the source, but that would cost some lines for sure

phinnaeus 7y ago
Do you just mean without the escaped newline characters? Because the fact that they serve as function comments is exactly what I found to be novel about it.
- _def 7y ago
  I like the idea too but just the thought of needing to go through those text blocks to edit them makes me sad
vfinn 7y ago
What do you mean? They are in the source.

t0mek 7y ago

Initially I thought that bash supports reflection and is able to get the function contents, including comments. But this function scans its own script file ($1), looking for the comments starting with #HELP and formatting them. This way the usage info can live near the functions implementing sub-commands.

andreineculau 7y ago
Yup. It is a nice trick that you might find more often in Makefile. I have a make target that does this consistently in all the makefiles I write: https://github.com/andreineculau/core.inc.mk/blob/master/target.help.inc.mk https://github.com/andreineculau/core.inc.mk/blob/master/tar... target1: ## Do this target2: target3: target2 ## Do that would be nicely formatted as the output of `make help` into Available targets: target1 Do this target2 Do that and if you want to see all targets along with their origin file, even those without help messages, type `make help-all` to render Available targets: target1 path/to/Makefile Do this target2 path/to/Makefile target3 path/to/Makefile Do that
einpoklum 7y ago
> Initially I thought that bash supports reflection ... But this function scans its own script file That certainly counts as reflection in the context of shell scripting... :-P