How can I have my shell script echo to me that the script that it calls has failed?
#!/bin/sh
test="/Applications/test.sh"
sh $test
exit 0
exit 1
#!/bin/sh
if sh /Applications/test.sh; then
echo "Well done $USER"
exit 0
else
echo "script failed with code [$?]" >&2
exit 1
fi
The /Applications/test.sh script should be well coded to exit with conventional status. 0 if it's ok and > 0 if it fails.
Like you can see, no need to test the special variable $?, we use boolean expression directly.
I usually take the following approach:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
test="/Applications/test.sh"
sh "${test}"
exit_status=$?
if [[ ${exit_status} ]] ; then
echo "Error: ${test} failed with status ${exit_status}." >&2
else
echo "Success!"
fi
In terms of best practice, you should not. If a script fails, it should emit an error message before it terminates so that its parent doesn't have to. The main reason for this is that the process knows why it is failing, while the parent can only guess. In other words, you should just write:
#!/bin/sh
test="/Applications/test.sh"
sh $test
Although really, it would be more typical to just write:
#!/bin/sh
/Applications/test.sh
test.sh will emit the necessary error message, and your script will return the same value as did test.sh. Also, in its current form your script will always be successful, even if test.sh actually failed because exit 0; exit 1 is pretty pointless: the exit 1 will never be called.
Related
I have a Bash shell script that invokes a number of commands.
I would like to have the shell script automatically exit with a return value of 1 if any of the commands return a non-zero value.
Is this possible without explicitly checking the result of each command?
For example,
dosomething1
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
exit 1
fi
dosomething2
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
exit 1
fi
Add this to the beginning of the script:
set -e
This will cause the shell to exit immediately if a simple command exits with a nonzero exit value. A simple command is any command not part of an if, while, or until test, or part of an && or || list.
See the bash manual on the "set" internal command for more details.
It's really annoying to have a script stubbornly continue when something fails in the middle and breaks assumptions for the rest of the script. I personally start almost all portable shell scripts with set -e.
If I'm working with bash specifically, I'll start with
set -Eeuo pipefail
This covers more error handling in a similar fashion. I consider these as sane defaults for new bash programs. Refer to the bash manual for more information on what these options do.
To add to the accepted answer:
Bear in mind that set -e sometimes is not enough, specially if you have pipes.
For example, suppose you have this script
#!/bin/bash
set -e
./configure > configure.log
make
... which works as expected: an error in configure aborts the execution.
Tomorrow you make a seemingly trivial change:
#!/bin/bash
set -e
./configure | tee configure.log
make
... and now it does not work. This is explained here, and a workaround (Bash only) is provided:
#!/bin/bash
set -e
set -o pipefail
./configure | tee configure.log
make
The if statements in your example are unnecessary. Just do it like this:
dosomething1 || exit 1
If you take Ville Laurikari's advice and use set -e then for some commands you may need to use this:
dosomething || true
The || true will make the command pipeline have a true return value even if the command fails so the the -e option will not kill the script.
If you have cleanup you need to do on exit, you can also use 'trap' with the pseudo-signal ERR. This works the same way as trapping INT or any other signal; bash throws ERR if any command exits with a nonzero value:
# Create the trap with
# trap COMMAND SIGNAME [SIGNAME2 SIGNAME3...]
trap "rm -f /tmp/$MYTMPFILE; exit 1" ERR INT TERM
command1
command2
command3
# Partially turn off the trap.
trap - ERR
# Now a control-C will still cause cleanup, but
# a nonzero exit code won't:
ps aux | grep blahblahblah
Or, especially if you're using "set -e", you could trap EXIT; your trap will then be executed when the script exits for any reason, including a normal end, interrupts, an exit caused by the -e option, etc.
The $? variable is rarely needed. The pseudo-idiom command; if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then X; fi should always be written as if command; then X; fi.
The cases where $? is required is when it needs to be checked against multiple values:
command
case $? in
(0) X;;
(1) Y;;
(2) Z;;
esac
or when $? needs to be reused or otherwise manipulated:
if command; then
echo "command successful" >&2
else
ret=$?
echo "command failed with exit code $ret" >&2
exit $ret
fi
Run it with -e or set -e at the top.
Also look at set -u.
On error, the below script will print a RED error message and exit.
Put this at the top of your bash script:
# BASH error handling:
# exit on command failure
set -e
# keep track of the last executed command
trap 'LAST_COMMAND=$CURRENT_COMMAND; CURRENT_COMMAND=$BASH_COMMAND' DEBUG
# on error: print the failed command
trap 'ERROR_CODE=$?; FAILED_COMMAND=$LAST_COMMAND; tput setaf 1; echo "ERROR: command \"$FAILED_COMMAND\" failed with exit code $ERROR_CODE"; put sgr0;' ERR INT TERM
An expression like
dosomething1 && dosomething2 && dosomething3
will stop processing when one of the commands returns with a non-zero value. For example, the following command will never print "done":
cat nosuchfile && echo "done"
echo $?
1
#!/bin/bash -e
should suffice.
I am just throwing in another one for reference since there was an additional question to Mark Edgars input and here is an additional example and touches on the topic overall:
[[ `cmd` ]] && echo success_else_silence
Which is the same as cmd || exit errcode as someone showed.
For example, I want to make sure a partition is unmounted if mounted:
[[ `mount | grep /dev/sda1` ]] && umount /dev/sda1
I have a Bash shell script that invokes a number of commands.
I would like to have the shell script automatically exit with a return value of 1 if any of the commands return a non-zero value.
Is this possible without explicitly checking the result of each command?
For example,
dosomething1
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
exit 1
fi
dosomething2
if [[ $? -ne 0 ]]; then
exit 1
fi
Add this to the beginning of the script:
set -e
This will cause the shell to exit immediately if a simple command exits with a nonzero exit value. A simple command is any command not part of an if, while, or until test, or part of an && or || list.
See the bash manual on the "set" internal command for more details.
It's really annoying to have a script stubbornly continue when something fails in the middle and breaks assumptions for the rest of the script. I personally start almost all portable shell scripts with set -e.
If I'm working with bash specifically, I'll start with
set -Eeuo pipefail
This covers more error handling in a similar fashion. I consider these as sane defaults for new bash programs. Refer to the bash manual for more information on what these options do.
To add to the accepted answer:
Bear in mind that set -e sometimes is not enough, specially if you have pipes.
For example, suppose you have this script
#!/bin/bash
set -e
./configure > configure.log
make
... which works as expected: an error in configure aborts the execution.
Tomorrow you make a seemingly trivial change:
#!/bin/bash
set -e
./configure | tee configure.log
make
... and now it does not work. This is explained here, and a workaround (Bash only) is provided:
#!/bin/bash
set -e
set -o pipefail
./configure | tee configure.log
make
The if statements in your example are unnecessary. Just do it like this:
dosomething1 || exit 1
If you take Ville Laurikari's advice and use set -e then for some commands you may need to use this:
dosomething || true
The || true will make the command pipeline have a true return value even if the command fails so the the -e option will not kill the script.
If you have cleanup you need to do on exit, you can also use 'trap' with the pseudo-signal ERR. This works the same way as trapping INT or any other signal; bash throws ERR if any command exits with a nonzero value:
# Create the trap with
# trap COMMAND SIGNAME [SIGNAME2 SIGNAME3...]
trap "rm -f /tmp/$MYTMPFILE; exit 1" ERR INT TERM
command1
command2
command3
# Partially turn off the trap.
trap - ERR
# Now a control-C will still cause cleanup, but
# a nonzero exit code won't:
ps aux | grep blahblahblah
Or, especially if you're using "set -e", you could trap EXIT; your trap will then be executed when the script exits for any reason, including a normal end, interrupts, an exit caused by the -e option, etc.
The $? variable is rarely needed. The pseudo-idiom command; if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then X; fi should always be written as if command; then X; fi.
The cases where $? is required is when it needs to be checked against multiple values:
command
case $? in
(0) X;;
(1) Y;;
(2) Z;;
esac
or when $? needs to be reused or otherwise manipulated:
if command; then
echo "command successful" >&2
else
ret=$?
echo "command failed with exit code $ret" >&2
exit $ret
fi
Run it with -e or set -e at the top.
Also look at set -u.
On error, the below script will print a RED error message and exit.
Put this at the top of your bash script:
# BASH error handling:
# exit on command failure
set -e
# keep track of the last executed command
trap 'LAST_COMMAND=$CURRENT_COMMAND; CURRENT_COMMAND=$BASH_COMMAND' DEBUG
# on error: print the failed command
trap 'ERROR_CODE=$?; FAILED_COMMAND=$LAST_COMMAND; tput setaf 1; echo "ERROR: command \"$FAILED_COMMAND\" failed with exit code $ERROR_CODE"; put sgr0;' ERR INT TERM
An expression like
dosomething1 && dosomething2 && dosomething3
will stop processing when one of the commands returns with a non-zero value. For example, the following command will never print "done":
cat nosuchfile && echo "done"
echo $?
1
#!/bin/bash -e
should suffice.
I am just throwing in another one for reference since there was an additional question to Mark Edgars input and here is an additional example and touches on the topic overall:
[[ `cmd` ]] && echo success_else_silence
Which is the same as cmd || exit errcode as someone showed.
For example, I want to make sure a partition is unmounted if mounted:
[[ `mount | grep /dev/sda1` ]] && umount /dev/sda1
We are writing shell scripts with set -e as policy which means that it will exit if any unhandled non-zero exit status appears.
#!/bin/sh -e
if some_command; then
experience_happyness
else
print error status of some_command to log or standard error
experience_sadness
exit 1
fi
The $? expression evaluates to 0 at the beginning of the else branch. If I don't run the some_command inside if then an eventual error will terminate the shell script immediately.
How can I know the exit status of a program when set -e is effective without terminating the script?
I'm interested in bash specific solutions too if pure sh solutions are not available.
EDIT: My bad. as #"that other guy" answered I was mistaken when I told that "$?" evaluates to 0 at the beginning of the else branch. I tried it, but I made some mistake when tried it. Sorry.
I think we may keep this question because of the pro quality answer. Should we?
The $? expression evaluates to 0 at the beginning of the else branch.
No it doesn't.
#!/bin/sh -e
some_command() { return 42; }
if some_command; then
echo "Worked"
else
echo "Command failed with $?"
exit 1
fi
will print Command failed with 42.
Is it possible to propagate an exit code to the caller in case of a syntax error in a Bash script with an EXIT trap? For example, if I have:
#! /bin/bash
set -eu
trap "echo dying!!" EXIT
echo yeah
echo $UNBOUND_VARIABLE
echo boo
Then, running it gives an exit code 0 even if the script did not really end successfully:
$ bash test.sh
yeah
test.sh: line 8: UNBOUND_VARIABLE: unbound variable
dying!!
$ echo $?
0
But if I comment out the exit trap, the script returns 1. Alternatively, if I replace the line with the unbound variable with a command that returns nonzero (e.g. /bin/false), that exit value is propagated as I would like it to.
The shell exits with the result of the last executed command. In your trap case, that's echo, which usually returns with success.
To propagate your value, simply exit with it.
#!/bin/bash
set -eu
die() {
echo "Dying!!"
exit "$1"
}
trap 'die $?' EXIT
echo yeah
echo $unbound
echo boo
Also note that set -e is considered harmful -- it makes you think the script will exit if a command fails, which it won't always do.
This behavior is related to different Bash versions. The original script works as expected on Bash 4.2 but not on 3.2. Having the error-prone code in a separate script file and running it in a subshell works around problems in earlier Bash versions:
#!/bin/bash
$BASH sub.sh
RETVAL=$?
if [[ "$RETVAL" != "0" ]]; then
echo "Dying!! Exit code: $RETVAL"
fi
sub.sh:
set -eu
echo yeah
echo $UNBOUND_VARIABLE
echo boo
I understand that I can use $? to see the exit code of the last executed command, but what if I want to identify whether I have thrown my own "exit 0" or "exit 1"?
For example:
#!/bin/bash -e
trap "{ echo Exit code $?; exit; }" EXIT
exit 1
If I run this script, it prints out "Exit code 0" and then exits with exit code 1. Can I access the code in the trap, or am I just going about this the wrong way? In other words, I would like this simple script to print out "Exit code 1".
It's 0 because $? at the beginning of a script, where it is substituted due to the double quotes, is 0.
Try this instead:
trap '{ echo Exit code $?; exit; }' EXIT
Any process that terminates sets the $?, it means that it constantly will get overwritten. Save $? to a separately named var that is unique and echo that upon exit.
Edit
See Exit Shell Script Based on Process Exit Code