tk-aria / shdoc

Documentation generator for shell scripts (bash, sh, zsh). Javadoc for shell scripts.

shdoc

shdoc is a documentation generator for bash/zsh/sh for generating API documentation in Markdown from shell scripts source.

shdoc parses annotations in the beginning of a given file and alongside function definitions, and creates a markdown file with ready to use documentation.

Index

• Example
• Annotations
• Usage
• Installation
• More examples
• License

Example

Generate documentation with the following command: $ shdoc < lib.sh > doc.md Source examples/readme-example.sh Output: examples/readme-example.md #!/bin/bash # @file libexample # @brief A library that solves some common problems. # @description # The project solves lots of problems: # * a # * b # * c # * etc # @description My super function. # Not thread-safe. # # @example # echo "test: $(say-hello World)" # # @arg $1 string A value to print # # @exitcode 0 If successful. # @exitcode 1 If an empty string passed. # # @see validate() say-hello() { if [[ ! "$1" ]]; then return 1; fi echo "Hello $1" }

# libexample A library that solves some common problems. ## Overview The project solves lots of problems: * a * b * c * etc ## Index * [say-hello()](#say-hello) ### say-hello() My super function. Not thread-safe. #### Example ```bash echo "test: $(say-hello World)" ``` #### Arguments * **$1** (string): A value to print #### Exit codes * **0**: If successful. * **1**: If an empty string passed. #### See also * [validate()](#validate)

Features

@name

A name of the project, used as a title of the doc. Can be specified once in the beginning of the file.

Example

#!/bin/bash
# @name MyLibrary

@brief

A brief line about the project. Can be specified once in the beginning of the file.

Example

#!/bin/bash
# @brief A library to solve a few problems.

@description

A multiline description of the project/function.

• Can be specified once for the whole file in the begibeginning of the file.
• Can be specified once for on top of a function definition.

Example

#!/bin/bash
# @description A long description of the library.
# Second line of the project description.

# @description My super function.
# Second line of my super function description.
function super() {
    ...
}

@example

A multiline example of the function usage. Can be specified only alongside the function definition.

Example

# @example
#    echo "test: $(say-hello World)"
say-hello() {
    ...
}

@arg

A description of an argument expected to be passed while calling the function. Can be specified multiple times to describe any number of arguments.

Example

# @description Says hi to a given person.
# @arg $1 string A person's name.
# @arg $2 string Message priority.
say-hello() {
    ...
}

@noargs

A note that the function does not expect any arguments to be passed.

Example

# @description Says 'hello world'.
# @noargs
say-hello-world() {
    ...
}

@set

A description of a global variable that is set while calling the function. Can be specified multiple times to describe any number of variables

Example

# @description Sets hello to the variable REPLY
# @set REPLY string Greeting message.
set-hello() {
    ...
}

@exitcode

Describes an expected exitcode of the function. Can be specified multiple times to describe all possible exitcodes and their conditions.

Example

# @description Says 'hello world'.
# @exitcode 0 If successful.
# @exitcode 1 If world is gone.
say-hello-world() {
    ...
}

@stdout

An expected output of the function call.

Example

# @description Says 'hello world'.
# @stdout A path to a temporary file with the message.
say-hello-world() {
    ...
}

@see

Create a link on the given function in the See Also section.

Example

# @see say-hello
say-hello-world() {
    ...
}

@internal

When you want to skip documentation generation for a particular function, you can specify this @internal tag. It allows you to have the same style of doc comments across the script and keep internal functions hidden from users.

Example

# @internal
show-msg() {
    ...
}

Usage

shdoc has no args and expects a shell script with comments on stdin and will produce markdown as stdout.

$ shdoc < your-shell-script.sh > doc.md

Installation

Arch Linux

Arch Linux users can install shdoc using package in AUR: shdoc-git

Using Git

NOTE: shdoc requires gawk: apt-get install gawk

git clone --recursive https://github.com/reconquest/shdoc
cd shdoc
sudo make install

Others

Unfortunately, there are no packages of shdoc for other distros, but we're looking for contributions.

Examples

See example documentation on:

• tests.sh
• coproc.bash

LICENSE

MIT