3

From time to time I see similar framing for comments in bash scripts:

#!/bin/bash
#===================================================================================
#
# FILE: stale-links.sh
#
# USAGE: stale-links.sh [-d] [-l] [-oD logfile] [-h] [starting directories]
#
# DESCRIPTION: List and/or delete all stale links in directory trees.
# The default starting directory is the current directory.
# Don’t descend directories on other filesystems.
#===================================================================================

Is there any program to generate such a decoration for comments or do people usually create it manually?

P.S. After some search, I found similar threads:
How can I create a message box from the command line?
bash script , echo output in box

t7e
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  • If you mention which text editor you're using, it might get you better-focused answers. – MDeBusk Jun 20 '22 at 01:50
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    Please think about defining `usage` and `help` functions instead at the beginning of your scripts. They carry the same information, look a little less fancy, but it's a good convention to print a usage message on wrong arguments and a description at `-h` option. Having this information twice in the functions and in the block header may lead to one of them not getting updated on changes. – Philippos Jun 20 '22 at 05:44
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    In [tag:vim] you can do: `i` `#` `Esc` `60` `a` `=` `Esc` – glenn jackman Jun 20 '22 at 13:12
  • ...and once you've created a line that way, you can keep using `yy` + `pp` to duplicate it. – steve Jun 20 '22 at 20:12

2 Answers2

5

I really like Thomas Jensen's boxes. It does a lot more than just the comment boxes you describe, and more than just for shell scripts. It's a command-line utility and it also integrates with several text editors, including my personal favorite.

MDeBusk
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  • Thanks for the hint. It looks like the only program in the Internet I managed to find for this purpose. Are there any similar alternatives? – t7e Jun 20 '22 at 19:48
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    @t7e I've never seen anything else like it. There's always Tim Pope's [commentary](https://github.com/tpope/vim-commentary) if you prefer plugins. – MDeBusk Jun 20 '22 at 20:26
0

If all you want is the informative header at the top of your scripts, you could do it without a plugin or external utility. Create a bash_script_template.sh that looks something like this:

#!/bin/bash

############################################################
# Filename   : x                                           #
# Author     : x                                           #
# Created    : x                                           #
# Last edit  : x                                           #
# Purpose    : x                                           #
# Reference  : x                                           #
# Depends    : x                                           #
# Arguments  : x                                           #
# Known bugs : x                                           #
# To do      : x                                           #
############################################################

# GNU All-Permissive License {{{
#############################################################
# Copyright © 2022 my_name                                  #
#                                                           #
# Copying and distribution of this file, with or without    #
# modification, are permitted in any medium without         #
# royalty, provided the copyright notice and this notice    #
# are preserved.                                            #
#                                                           #
# This file is offered as-is, without any warranty.         #
#############################################################
# End license }}}

When you want to write a new script, copy the template to a new filename or read it into the top of an empty buffer.

MDeBusk
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