sh2lang v0.1.2

Features

  • Range syntax for for loops: Added inclusive range syntax start..end for iteration (e.g., for i in 1..10 { ... }). Supports both parenthesized (1..10) and spaced 1 .. 10 forms. Runtime dependency: requires seq command (part of coreutils).
  • Path Lookup: Added which(name) builtin to resolve executables in $PATH without external dependencies. Returns the path or "" if not found. Exit status: returns 0 when found, 1 when not found (allows if which("cmd") { ... }). Non-aborting: which() returning 1 does not abort the script. Paths may be relative if $PATH contains relative entries.
  • Glob Expansion: Added glob(pattern) builtin (Bash-only) to safely expand filesystem glob patterns. Returns a sorted list of matched paths; empty list if no matches. Uses compgen -G internally (no eval). Requires Bash 4.3+.
  • Recursive File Finding: Added find_files(dir=".", name="*") builtin (Bash-only) to recursively find files using find ... -print0. Handles “weird” filenames (spaces, newlines) safely. Returns a sorted list of paths. Requires Bash 4.3+, GNU find, and GNU sort.
  • Structured Pipeline Iteration: Added | each_line <var> { ... } pipeline consumer. Executes loop in the main process (preserving variable updates) and correctly propagates upstream exit status. Replaces fragile | while read patterns. Bash-only (uses process substitution).
  • Job Control: Added spawn(cmd), wait(pid), and wait_all(pids) builtins for running concurrent tasks. spawn starts a background job (like &) and returns a PID. wait waits for a PID and returns its exit code. wait_all waits for all PIDs in a list and returns the first non-zero exit code (in list order). Supports allow_fail=true for non-aborting waits. spawn and wait portable to both Bash and POSIX; wait_all fully supported on Bash, POSIX supports inline list literals only.
  • Stdin Line Iteration: Added stdin_lines() iterator for for loops (e.g. for line in stdin_lines() { ... }). Correctly handles whitespace, raw lines, and empty input. Fully supported on both Bash and POSIX targets. Compliant with Policy A variable semantics.
  • Streaming File Discovery: Added find0(dir=".", name=?, type=?, maxdepth=?) iterator for for loops (Bash-only). Uses NUL-delimited find for safe handling of filenames with spaces, newlines, and special characters. Results are deterministically sorted. Options are compile-time validated (type must be "f" or "d", maxdepth must be a non-negative integer literal).

Diagnostics

  • Unknown function detection: Calling an undefined function in expression context now produces a compile error with hints to use run(...) for external commands or define the function.

Fixes

  • Capture Status: capture(..., allow_fail=true) now correctly preserves the command’s exit status in status() across all targets, ensuring it isn’t clobbered by internal cleanup operations. [#11]
  • sh(...) expression contexts: sh(...) inside capture(...) and other expression contexts now correctly executes via sh -c. Previously, the command string was passed as a filename argument to sh rather than as code to execute.

Docs

  • sh() Argument Forwarding: Added args=args() (or args=argv()) option to sh(...) to explicitly forward parent script positional parameters to the child shell process. By default, sh(...) starts with empty arguments to prevent accidental leakage.
  • Clarified sh(...) isolation: does not inherit $@ / $1; documented using argc() / arg(n) or run(...) instead.
  • Structured primitives over sh("..."): Docs now prefer glob(), find0(), spawn(), stdin_lines(), and structured pipelines over sh("...") where available. Remaining sh(...) usages are justified with # sh(...) because: comments. CI enforcement test added.

Infrastructure

  • Unified GitHub Pages deployment: The APT repository URL has moved from https://siu-mak.github.io/sh2lang/ to https://siu-mak.github.io/sh2lang/apt/. Update your APT source line and GPG key URL accordingly. Ubuntu 24.04 (noble) is now supported alongside 22.04 (jammy).

Breaking Changes

  • Hardened arg(i): arg(i) now enforces strict runtime validation for variable indices. It aborts the script with a fatal error if the index is non-numeric, < 1, or > argc(). Previously, invalid or out-of-bounds indices might have returned empty strings or behaved unpredictably depending on the target shell. This change ensures safety against injection and logic errors.
  • Strict Variable Semantics: Variables must now be declared with let before use or assignment. let declarations allow shadowing only in disjoint branches (e.g., if true { let x=1 } else { let x=2 }), preventing accidental re-declaration errors. Diagnostic improvements now provide hints for let vs set usage.
  • Binder Refinements: Fixed an issue where disjoint branch declarations were incorrectly flagged as redeclarations. each_line loop variables now correctly preserve their value if the loop does not run (0-iterations) and the variable was previously set.
Source Code & Repository
👉 https://github.com/siu-mak/sh2lang