SC2105 – ShellCheck Wiki

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break is only valid in loops

Problematic code:

case "$1" in
    -v)
       verbose=1
       break
       ;;
    -d)
       debug=1
esac

Correct code:

case "$1" in
    -v)
       verbose=1
       ;;
    -d)
       debug=1
esac

Rationale:

break or continue was found outside a loop. These statements are only valid in loops. In particular, break is not required in case statements as there is no implicit fall-through.

To return from a function or sourced script, use return. To exit a script, use exit.

Exceptions:

It's possible to break/continue in a function without a loop. The call will then affect the loop -- if any -- that the function is invoked from. This is obviously not good coding practice.

ShellCheck is a static analysis tool for shell scripts. This page is part of its documentation.