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Vidar Holen edited this page Sep 2, 2020 · 1 revision

In POSIX sh, -nt is undefined.

Problematic code:

#!/bin/sh
if [ Foo.java -nt Foo.class ]
then
  javac Foo.java
fi

Correct code:

The easiest fix is to switch to a shell that does support -nt, like bash:

#!/bin/bash
if [ Foo.java -nt Foo.class ]
then
  javac Foo.java
fi

Otherwise, find can be used:

#!/bin/sh
if [ -n "$(find Foo.java -newer Foo.class)" ]
then
  javac Foo.java
fi

Rationale:

test -nt is an extension in ksh, bash and dash, but it is not covered by POSIX.

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!

ShellCheck

Each individual ShellCheck warning has its own wiki page like SC1000. Use GitHub Wiki's "Pages" feature above to find a specific one, or see Checks.

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