SC2160.md

Pattern: Use of [ true ] instead of true

Issue: -

Description

This is a stylistic suggestion to use true instead of [ true ].

[ true ] seems to suggest that the value "true" is somehow relevant to the statement. This is not the case, it doesn't matter. You can replace it with [ false ] or [ wombat ], and it will still always be true:

String	In brackets	Outside brackets
true	true	true
false	true	false
wombat	true	unknown command

It's therefore better to use it without brackets, so that the "true" actually matters.

Example of incorrect code:

if [ true ]
then
  echo "always triggers"
fi

Example of correct code:

if true
then
  echo "always triggers"
fi

Further Reading

• ShellCheck - SC2160