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Full Discussion: Advanced error handling in shell scripts
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting Advanced error handling in shell scripts Post 302363695 by script_man on Wednesday 21st of October 2009 05:10:53 AM
Old 10-21-2009
Advanced error handling in shell scripts
Hi all


I've got a question regarding error handling in shell scripts. My background is mainly object oriented programming languages, but for a year or so I've been doing more and more (bash) shell scripting (which I quite enjoy by the way).

To handle errors in my scripts I often find myself doing something like:

Code:
<execute some command>
  if [ $? -ne 0 ] ;then
    <handle error>
  fi

In many cases the <handle error> is the same for the commands executed, so you end up duplicating code. Thus I think it would be better to encapsulate this code in a function, e.g.

Code:
exec_cmd()
  {
    $1 # the command to be executed is passed in as an argument
    if [ $? -ne 0 ] ; then
      <handle error>
    fi
  }

And execute commands by calling this function:
Code:
exec_cmd "<some command>"

Furthermore, the function can easily be enhanced to write the command as well as the command output and return code to a log file:
Code:
exec_cmd()
{
  echo ""   >> $log_file
  echo "---------------------------------------------------------" >> $log_file
  echo "$1" >> $log_file
  $1        >> $log_file 2>&1
  return_code=$?
  if [ $return_code -ne 0 ] ; then
    echo "ERROR - $1 failed with $return_code"
    exit 1
  fi
}

exec_cmd "<cmd1>"
exec_cmd "<cmd2>"
exec_cmd "<cmd2>"
...

I found this quite handy to handle errors in my scripts. If you write command, output and return code to a log file, it also makes it quite easy to investigate problems with scripts that run in the background.


Now my question is:
How is that as a practise? Is it common? Or would it be considerd as bad and if so why? Has the bash already got something like this build in? (E.g. there might be an exit on fail option; I also know that you can start scripts with an option which outputs the commands which are being executed).

How do the experienced people here do the error handling in their scripts?

Thanks and best wishes
 

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LEARN ABOUT FREEBSD

atf-sh

ATF-SH(1)						    BSD General Commands Manual 						 ATF-SH(1)

NAME

     atf-sh [-s shell] -- interpreter for shell-based test programs

SYNOPSIS

     atf-sh script

DESCRIPTION

     atf-sh is an interpreter that runs the test program given in script after loading the atf-sh(3) library.

     atf-sh is not a real interpreter though: it is just a wrapper around the system-wide shell defined by ATF_SHELL.  atf-sh executes the inter-
     preter, loads the atf-sh(3) library and then runs the script.  You must consider atf-sh to be a POSIX shell by default and thus should not
     use any non-standard extensions.

     The following options are available:

     -s shell	  Specifies the shell to use instead of the value provided by ATF_SHELL.

ENVIRONMENT

     ATF_LIBEXECDIR    Overrides the builtin directory where atf-sh is located.  Should not be overridden other than for testing purposes.
     ATF_PKGDATADIR    Overrides the builtin directory where libatf-sh.subr is located.  Should not be overridden other than for testing purposes.
     ATF_SHELL	       Path to the system shell to be used in the generated scripts.  Scripts must not rely on this variable being set to select a
		       specific interpreter.

EXAMPLES

     Scripts using atf-sh(3) should start with:

	   #! /usr/bin/env atf-sh

     Alternatively, if you want to explicitly choose a shell interpreter, you cannot rely on env(1) to find atf-sh.  Instead, you have to hardcode
     the path to atf-sh in the script and then use the -s option afterwards as a single parameter:

	   #! /path/to/bin/atf-sh -s/bin/bash

ENVIRONMENT

     ATF_SHELL	  Path to the system shell to be used in the generated scripts.

SEE ALSO

     atf-sh(3)

BSD
								September 27, 2014							       BSD
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