How to exit from a method in shell script - shell

Question

I am new to shell scripting and stuck with a problem. In my shell method if I saw any validation issue then rest of the programm will not execute and will show user a message. Till validation it's done but when I used exit 0 then only it comes out of the validation loop not from full method.
config_wuigm_parameters () {
echo "Starting to config parameters for WUIGM....." | tee -a $log
prepare_wuigm_conf_file
echo "Configing WUIGM parameters....." | tee -a $log
local parafile=`dirname $0`/wuigm.conf
local pname=""
local pvalue=""
create_preference_template
cat ${parafile} |while read -r line;do
pname=`echo $line | egrep -e "^([^#]*)=(.*)" | cut -d '=' -f 1`
if [ -n "$pname" ] ; then
lsearch=`echo $line | grep "[<|>|\"]" `
if [ -n "$lsearch" ] ; then
echo validtion=$lsearch
echo "< or > character present , Replace < with < and > with >"
exit 1;
else
pvalue=`echo $line | egrep -e "^([^#]*)=(.*)" | cut -d '=' -f 2- `
echo "<entry key=\"$pname\" value=\"$pvalue\"/>" >> $prefs
echo "Configured : ${pname} = ${pvalue} " | tee -a $log
fi
fi
done
echo $validtion
echo "</map>" >> $prefs
# Copy the file to the original location
cp -f $prefs /root/.java/.userPrefs/com/ericsson/pgm/xwx
# removing the local temp file
rm -f $prefs
reboot_server
}
Any help would be great

Answer 1

It is because the construction
cat file | while read ...
starts a new (sub)shell.
In the next you can see the difference:
echoline() {
cat "$1" | while read -r line
do
echo ==$line==
exit 1
done
echo "Still here after the exit"
}
echoline $#
and compare with this
echoline() {
while read -r line
do
echo ==$line==
exit 1
done < "$1"
echo "This is not printed after the exit"
}
echoline $#
Using the return doesn't helps too, (because of subshell). The
echoline() {
cat "$1" | while read -r line
do
echo ==$line==
return 1
done
echo "Still here"
}
echoline $#
will still prints the "Still here".
So, if you want exit the script, use the
while read ...
do
...
done < input #this not starts a new subshell
if want exit just the method (return from it) must check the exit startus of the previous command, like:
echoline() {
cat "$1" | while read -r line
do
echo ==$line==
exit 1
done || return 1
echo "In case of exit (or return), this is not printed"
}
echoline $#
echo "After the function call"
Instead of || or you can use the
[ $? != 0 ] && return 1
just after the while.

Answer 2

You use the return instruction to exit a function with a value.
return [n]
Causes a function to exit with the return value specified by n. If n is omitted, the return status is that of the last command executed in the function body. If used outside a function, but during execution of a script by the . (source) command, it causes the shell to stop executing that script and return either n or the exit status of the last command executed within the script as the exit status of the script. If used out‐side a function and not during execution of a script by ., the return status is false. Any command associated with the RETURN trap is executed before execution resumes after the function or script.
If you want to exit a loop, use the break instruction instead:
break [n]
Exit from within a for, while, until, or select loop. If n is specified, break n levels. n must be ≥ 1. If n is greater than the number of enclosing loops, all enclosing loops are exited. The return value is 0 unless n is not greater than or equal to 1.
The exit instruction exits the current shell instead, so the current program as a whole. If you use sub-shells, code written between parenthesis, then only that sub-shell exits.