Scripting Tips

• When using a bash shell, start every script with #!/bin/bash

• Write scripts with a plain-text editor such as TextEdit (Mac) or Notepad (Windows)

• Turn off spelling and grammar checking:

  • In TextEdit (Mac): Edit > Spelling and Grammar > Uncheck ‘Check Spelling While Typing’ and ‘Correct Spelling Automatically’

  • In Notepad (Windows): Select Setting (top right) > Scroll down to Spelling section > Toggle off ‘Autocorrect’ and ‘Spell Check’

• Thoroughly annotate scripts (adding a # at the beginning of a line causes it to be ignored when the computer reads the script).