The Best Shell Static Analysis Tools (Linters/Formatters)

We rank 17 Shell linters, code analyzers, formatters, and more. Find and compare tools like Mega-Linter, Better Code Hub, shellcheck, and more. Please rate and review tools that you've used. This helps others find the best tools for their projects.

6 Shell Tools

shellcheck

ShellCheck, a static analysis tool that gives warnings and suggestions for bash/sh shell scripts.

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedShell
  • Maintainedcli
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 85% upvoted

kmdr

CLI tool for learning commands from your terminal. kmdr delivers a break down of commands with every attribute explained.

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedShell
  • Maintainedcli
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 100% upvoted

bashate

Code style enforcement for bash programs. The output format aims to follow pycodestyle (pep8) default output format.

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedShell
  • Maintainedcli
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 0% upvoted

i-Code CNES for Shell

An open source static code analysis tool for Shell and Fortran (77 and 90).

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedShell
  • Maintainedcli
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 0% upvoted

sh

A shell parser, formatter, and interpreter with bash support; includes shfmt

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedShell
  • Maintainedcli
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 0% upvoted

shellharden

A syntax highlighter and a tool to semi-automate the rewriting of scripts to ShellCheck conformance, mainly focused on quoting.

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedShell
  • Maintainedcli
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 0% upvoted

11 Multi-Language Tools

Mega-Linter

Mega-Linter can handle any type of project thanks to its 70+ embedded Linters, its advanced reporting, runnable on any CI system or locally, with assisted installation and configuration, able to apply formatting and fixes

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedMulti-Language
  • Maintainedcli
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 68% upvoted

Better Code Hub

Better Code Hub checks your GitHub codebase against 10 engineering guidelines devised by the authority in software quality, Software Improvement Group.

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedMulti-Language
  • Maintainedservice
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 77% upvoted

callGraph

Statically generates a call graph image and displays it on screen.

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedMulti-Language
  • Maintainedcli
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 84% upvoted

Codacy

Code Analysis to ship Better Code, Faster.

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedMulti-Language
  • Maintainedservice
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 71% upvoted

todocheck

Linter for integrating annotated TODOs with your issue trackers

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedMulti-Language
  • Maintainedcli
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 67% upvoted

autocorrect

A linter and formatter to help you to improve copywriting, correct spaces, words, punctuations between CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean).

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedMulti-Language
  • Maintainedcli
  • MaintainedlinterMaintainedformatter
  • 0% upvoted

CodeFactor

Automated Code Analysis for repos on GitHub or BitBucket.

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedMulti-Language
  • Maintainedservice
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 50% upvoted

Sigrid

Sigrid helps you to improve your software by measuring your system's code quality, and then compares the results against a benchmark of thousands of industry systems to give you concrete advice on areas where you can improve.

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedMulti-Language
  • MaintainedcliMaintainedservice
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 50% upvoted

StaticReviewer

Static Reviewer executes code checks according to the most relevant Secure Coding Standards, OWASP, CWE, CVE, CVSS, MISRA, CERT, for 40+ programming languages, using 1000+ built-in validation rules for Security, Deadcode & Best Practices Available a module for Software Composition Analysis (SCA) to find vulnerabilities in open source and third party libraries.

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedMulti-Language
  • Maintainedcli
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 50% upvoted

Super-Linter

Combination of multiple linters to install as a GitHub Action.

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedMulti-Language
  • Maintainedcli
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 50% upvoted

ShiftLeft Scan

Scan is a free open-source DevSecOps platform for detecting security issues in source code and dependencies. It supports a broad range of languages and CI/CD pipelines.

  • MaintainedMaintained
  • MaintainedMulti-Language
  • MaintainedcliMaintainedservice
  • Maintainedlinter
  • 40% upvoted

Frequently Asked Questions

What are Shell tools?

A shell script is a computer program designed to be run by the Unix shell, a command-line interpreter. The various dialects of shell scripts are considered to be scripting languages. Typical operations performed by shell scripts include file manipulation, program execution, and printing text. The terms "shell" and "shell script" are often used interchangeably, although a shell script is a specific type of shell program and not a shell in itself.

What are the best Shell static analysis tools and linters?

The most popular Shell tools ranked by user votes are: Mega-Linter, Better Code Hub, shellcheck, callGraph, Codacy.

Which Shell tools are free to use?

Tools with a free plan include Better Code Hub. On top of that, there are also a number of open source like Mega-Linter, shellcheck, callGraph, kmdr, todocheck, autocorrect, bashate, i-Code CNES for Shell, sh, shellharden.

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