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I've been editing .bashrc files and other init files, and it seems that I've left behind a few code snippets or two that are causing a few errors at the prompt (e.g. file missing), but I can't find them.
How do I debug the prompt to find out what init scripts I've carelessly hacked?
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The debugging options available in the Bash shell can be switched on and off in multiple ways. Within scripts, we can either use the set command or add an option to the shebang line. However, another approach is to explicitly specify the debugging options in the command-line while executing the script.
The Bash Debugger Project is a source-code debugger for bash that follows the gdb command syntax. There are plugins available for VSCode and JetBrains. Also, there are POSIX shell debuggers for Zsh and the Korn Shell.
To activate the debugger at the command prompt In the Session List window, do one of the following: Choose Debug Next. The debugger is now active and is waiting to attach to a session. Select a session, and then choose Debug.
Try invoking bash with the -x flag, then sourcing your .bashrc or .bash_profile or whatever you're using. That ought to be prolix enough to find your problem
ie:
bash -x
source .bashrc
Most of the shells have debug flags that show the commands being executed. Bash may even have one that shows a command before expansion of variables and after. Have you tried checking (I believe) -c -x or -X flags and see if they show the information you are looking for.
You can set them as first thing in the rc files (most global one) or just pass it down into bash command by invoking it from another shell.
In fact, if you invoke bash from another shell, you can also use script command to record everything you see and do into the file, which makes postmortem analysis so much easier.
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