Tagged Questions

0
votes
1answer
70 views

Converting a loop of code to function

I want to retry a command for 5 times with an interval of 20 seconds. I want this command to be passed as a method parameter. How to do it? And once the function is written how to pass the value to ...
2
votes
3answers
176 views

Bash source — select the right function when two sourced files have the same function name?

My bash script sources a script file (call it file2.sh) according to an argument. (It is either sourced or not.) The script file2.sh contains a function "foo" (call it a modified or improved version ...
1
vote
2answers
488 views

How to return the exit code? Error: return: Reading: numeric argument required

Here's a simplified version of my script. My question is, How do I return the exit code from apt-get in this case? #!/bin/bash install_auto() { apt-get -h > /dev/null 2>&1 if [ $? -eq 0 ] ; ...
5
votes
2answers
113 views

How to define a Bash function that can be used by different scripts

I have defined a bash function in my ~/.bashrc file. This allows me to use it in shell terminals. However, it does not seem to exist when I call it from within a script. How can I define a bash ...
4
votes
1answer
262 views

what is the zsh equivalent of bash's export -f

So I started using zsh. I like it all right. It seems very cool and slick, and the fact that the current working directory and actual command line are on different lines is nice, but at the same time, ...
7
votes
4answers
1k views

Executing user defined function in a find -exec call

I'm on Solaris 10 and I have tested the following with ksh (88), bash (3.00) and zsh (4.2.1). The following code doesn't yield any result: function foo { echo "Hello World" } find somedir -exec ...
2
votes
2answers
102 views

Is there any way I can fit this into my ~/.bashrc as a function?

I just discovered this useful bit of code on this useful-looking website. #!/bin/sh exec tclsh "$0" ${1+"$@"} proc main {} { set lines [lrange [split [read stdin] \n] 0 end-1] set count ...
2
votes
1answer
70 views

Restoring an option at the end of a function in zsh

I'm writing a zsh shell function (as opposed to a script) where I would really like the extended_glob option to be enabled. But since the function runs in the caller's context, I don't want to clobber ...
4
votes
4answers
736 views

How can I pass a command line argument into a shell script?

I know that shell scripts just run commands as if they were executed in at the command prompt. I'd like to be able to run shell scripts as if they were functions... That is, taking an input value or ...
112
votes
9answers
9k views

In Bash, when to alias, when to script, and when to write a function?

It's taken me almost 10 years of Linux usage to ask this question. It was all trial and error and random late-night internet surfing. But people shouldn't need 10 years for this. If I were just ...
4
votes
2answers
216 views

Combine two commands in .bash_profile

In my .bash_profile file, I'd like to setup a single command alias that is two commands that execute one after another. The first command takes an argument from the command line and the second is ...
2
votes
2answers
647 views

creating simple command for sudo apt-get install?

I need to run these commands very often: sudo apt-get install <package> sudo apt-get remove <package> Can I make it simple like: install <package> remove <package> I ...