Bash script says: "}" unexpected (expected "done") in function call in .xinitrc - bash

Question

I'm writing the .xinitrc for my system, but the code (below) crashes on line 17 (the ending brace of the `freespace' function) with the error
"}" unexpected (expected "done")
Is there actually a problem with the function declaration, or did I mess up somewhere else in the script?
while true; do
# WiFi connectivity status
if [ -f /sbin/iwgetid ]; then
result="$(/sbin/iwgetid -r )";
if [ -z "$result" ]; then
result="Not connected";
fi
else
result="Not installed";
fi
wifi_status="WiFi: $result";
# Free space on / and /home
function freespace {
local space="$(df -lh --output=avail $1 | tail -n 1 | sed -e 's/^[ \t]*//') free on $1";
echo "$space";
}
root_free=$(freespace /);
home_free=$(freespace /home);
# Miscellaneous
user_str="$(whoami)#$(hostname)";
date_str="$(date +"%a %b %d %R")";
# Battery status and CPU temperature
if [ -f /usr/bin/acpi ]; then
battery_status="Battery: $(acpi -b '{split($0, a, ": "); print a[2]'})";
cpu_temp="CPU temperature: $(acpi -t -f | sed 's/Thermal 0: ok, //g')";
acpi_status="$battery_status | $cpu_temp";
else
acpi_status="ACPI not available";
fi
# System performance
uptime_str=$(uptime -p);
num_cpus="CPUs: $(grep "processor" /proc/cpuinfo | wc -l)";
num_procs="$(ps -e | wc -l) active processes";
load_avgs="Load averages: $(cat /proc/loadavg | awk '{split($0, a, " "); print a[1], a[2], a[3]}')";
# Update top and bottom status bar
top_bar="$wifi_status | $uptime_str | $user_str | $date_str";
bottom_bar="$acpi_status | $num_cpus | $num_procs | $load_avgs | $root_free | $home_free";
xsetroot -name "$top_bar;$bottom_bar";
sleep 30;
done &
xbindkeys
( ( sleep 5 && /usr/bin/xscreensaver -no-splash -display :0.0 ) & )
( ( create-random-gradient && feh --bg-center ~/.wallpaper.png ) & )
( redshifter & )
wmname LG3D
exec /home/ma/build/dwm/dwm
If I slim down the code to just that section, i.e.
while true; do
# Free space on / and /home
function freespace {
local space="$(df -lh --output=avail $1 | tail -n 1 | sed -e 's/^[ \t]*//') free on $1";
echo "$space";
}
root_free=$(freespace /);
home_free=$(freespace /home);
echo "$root_free | $home_free";
sleep 2
done
and run it from the terminal directly (instead of calling startx after logging in), it works just fine.

Answer 1

This error will happen if the shell running this code is not actually bash. It's noteworthy that your script doesn't include a shebang -- without #!/usr/bin/env bash or another shebang, the interpreter used is unspecified. (Explicitly specifying sh yourscript will override the shebang and force sh, just as bash yourscript will ignore the shebang and use bash, but that's neither here nor there).
function is not a keyword in standard POSIX sh -- it's a ksh extension which bash adopted. Consequently, to a POSIX shell, the { in function freespace { is not syntax -- it's an argument to be passed to a command named function.
By contrast, the } is parsed as syntax, but it doesn't match with any syntactic opening brace; hence, your error.
In standards-compliant syntax, the declaration would be:
freespace() {
df -lh --output=avail "$1" | awk -v fs="$1" 'NR == 2 { print $1 " free on " fs }'
}
Note the elimination of the unnecessary command substitution. echo "$(...)" is self-defeating: $() goes to significant overhead to capture stdout of its command into a string, and then echo emits that back to stdout again. Why do any of that when you could just run the command directly?