shell in step/defaults cannot use job/matrix templates

shell parameter in steps context should allow ${{ job/steps. }} variables.
I can see no reason for disallowing such expressions there.

To Reproduce

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
       - run: no matter what
         shell: echo ${{ job.status }}

https://github.com/jacekkow/github-actions-bugs/blob/master/.github/workflows/bug1.yml

Expected behavior
Step returns:

Success

Runner Version and Platform

GitHub Actions

What's not working?

The workflow fails:

The workflow is not valid. .github/workflows/bug1.yml (Line: 9, Col: 17): Unrecognized named-value: 'job'. Located at position 1 within expression: job.status

As far as I can tell this is due to non-empty-string being used instead of string-steps-context (or perhaps new non-empty-string-steps-context?) here:

runner/src/Sdk/DTPipelines/workflow-v1.0.json

Line 403 in 3d70ef2

"shell": "non-empty-string"

Similar change should also be made here:

runner/src/Sdk/DTPipelines/workflow-v1.0.json

Line 422 in 3d70ef2

"shell": "non-empty-string"

Shell is mean to set to ‘cmd’ ‘bash’ ‘sh’ and ‘powershell’
We do support expressions in the script content

run: echo ${{job.status}}
Shell: bash

Shell is mean to set to ‘cmd’ ‘bash’ ‘sh’ and ‘powershell’

Per docs:

You can use built-in shell keywords, or you can define a custom set of shell options.

https://help.github.com/en/actions/reference/workflow-syntax-for-github-actions#using-a-specific-shell

So I'm defining custom shell and its options (as documented). I really don't see a reason for "run" accepting expressions and "shell" not.

@chrispat

@chrispat for whether we allow expression in script's shell option

I don't see any reason not to. The only reason we don't allow it is uses is so we can implement policy to prevent running certain actions.

@chrispat

@chrispat any update? I want to run Powershell test/builds in matrix and right now I have two very redundant tasks with an if expression gating them.

@JustinGrote

Hi @JustinGrote,

While reproducing this issue, I noticed that shell expression would work now. Could you please tell me if you are still experiencing this issue? If you do, could you provide an example repository so I can reproduce this behaviour with your workflow, so I don't miss anything?

Another example where expressions could be useful in shell:

I tried to use custom shell with GitHub actions, and installed in previous step. But I can not reference the absolute path with: shell: ${{ github.workspace }}/bin/shell {0} because:

The workflow is not valid. .github/workflows/test.yml (Line: 77, Col: 16): Unrecognized named-value: 'github'

Refactor Cygwin configuration for GitHub Actions

I modifiy the example workflow https://docs.github.com/en/actions/using-jobs/using-a-matrix-for-your-jobs#example-expanding-configurations
into the following one.
It reports the same error as above.

name: Conditional Shell Matrix Workflow

on: [push]

jobs:
  example_matrix:
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        os: [windows-latest, ubuntu-latest]
        node: [14, 16]
        include:
          - os: windows-latest
            node: 16
            npm: 6
            shell: powershell
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            shell: bash
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: ${{ matrix.node }}
      - name: Install NPM
        if: ${{ matrix.npm }}
        run: |
            npm install -g npm@${{ matrix.npm }}
            npm --version
      - name: Print current working directory
        shell: ${{ matrix.shell }}
        run: |
          echo "The current working directory is $GITHUB_WORKSPACE"
          ls "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE"

variables in shell: does not work

actions/runner#444 - i fucking hate github actions

The https://github.com/cygwin/cygwin-install-action action has an output for the install path, so I reasonably tried to do

      - id: cygwin
        uses: cygwin/cygwin-install-action@master
        with:
          packages: ...
      - name: build
        run: ...
        shell: ${{ steps.cygwin.outputs.root }}\bin\bash.exe -leo pipefail -o igncr '{0}'

I think this is this same 5-year-old bug?!?

"shell" in steps cannot use expressions (actions/runner#444)

fix(#437,#439,#440): restore defaults.run.shell + 'zsh {0}' format + …

Fix CI: shell key does not accept matrix expressions

Name the PowerShell hosts literally, since shell accepts no expression

I'm facing this issue as well. I'm trying to run custom shells so I can test my application with a tty. This is different on different OSes, so I want to use the matrix like this:

jobs:
  test: 
     ...
  test-jvm-compatibility:
    needs: test
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        os: [macos-latest, windows-latest, ubuntu-latest]
        java-version: [17, 21, 25]
        include:
          - os: macos-latest
            shell-with-pty: 'script -q /dev/null bash -c "bash {0}"'
          - os: ubuntu-latest
            shell-with-pty: 'script -q -e -c "bash {0}"'
          - os: windows-latest
            shell-with-pty: 'winpty -Xallow-non-tty bash {0}'
    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
    steps:
      - uses: actions/setup-java@v5
        with:
          distribution: 'temurin'
          java-version: ${{ matrix.java-version }}
      - name: Download R8 Jar
        uses: actions/download-artifact@v6
        with:
          name: main-r8-jar
          path: artifacts

      - name: Run R8 Jar without a tty without enable-native-access all-unnamed
        run: java -jar artifacts/main-r8.jar

      - name: Run R8 Jar without a tty with enable-native-access all-unnamed
        run: java --enable-native-access=ALL-UNNAMED -jar artifacts/main-r8.jar

      - name: Run R8 Jar with a tty without enable-native-access all-unnamed
        shell: ${{ matrix.shell-with-pty }}
        run: java -jar artifacts/main-r8.jar

      - name: Run R8 Jar with a tty with enable-native-access all-unnamed
        shell: ${{ matrix.shell-with-pty }}
        run: java --enable-native-access=ALL-UNNAMED -jar artifacts/main-r8.jar

But I'm getting this like everyone else:

Invalid workflow file

(Line: 105, Col: 16): Unrecognized named-value: 'matrix'. Located at position 1 within expression: matrix.shell-with-pty, (Line: 109, Col: 16): Unrecognized named-value: 'matrix'. Located at position 1 within expression: matrix.shell-with-pty

Is there any chance we could see this implemented soon?

fix(release): repair the workflow file that GitHub could not validate

ci: adicionar job Pester em Windows PowerShell 5.1 (fecha UF2)

docs(findings): fechar UF2 com prova real (WinPS 5.1 no CI), descarta…

S0-T08 fix: workflow CI не запускался, shell: matrix недоступен

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shell in step/defaults cannot use job/matrix templates #444

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What's not working?

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TingluoHuang commented on Apr 22, 2020

jacekkow commented on Apr 22, 2020

TingluoHuang commented on Apr 22, 2020

chrispat commented on Apr 22, 2020

JustinGrote commented on Mar 26, 2021

nikola-jokic commented on Feb 8, 2022

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