Shell Programming and Scripting

if you want to use the functions in your another script please use below code in your script..

Code:

source /PATH/Function_script_name

#For using function give function name

and if you want to use the functions in bash just use..

Code:

. /PATH/Function_script_name

#For using function give function name

It should work just by adding the directory in which the function is to your $FPATH variable. It works in my other environment (Solaris)... And I can just run the function from within a script without having to source it, just not from the command line.

The FPATH variable works in ksh (and only ksh - bash doesn't have it!) provided that:

1.) The files where the functions reside in are mode 4 or 6 to the UID of the calling script. I flag them 644 and give ownership to root:system (on AIX - Linux would be "root:root") usually. They should NOT have the x-bit set! This is important.

2.) Every function should reside in its own file (do NOT bundle functions into files) and the file should be named like the fuction itself. The first executable line in the file should be the function definition:

Code:

$ echo $FPATH
/path/foo:/path/bar

$ ls -l /path/foo/f_foobar
total 112
-rw-r--r--    1 root     system         154 Aug 30 12:04 f_foobar

$ cat /path/foo/f_foobar
# some comment about f_foobar()

f_foobar ()
{
   <here goes your code>
   return 0
}
# EOF f_foobar

3.) You have to be aware, that FUNCTIONS ARE NOT SCRIPTS! You can't just execute them on their own. You have to call them from within your scripts:

Code:

#! /bin/ksh

FPATH=/path/foo:/path/bar ; export FPATH

f_foobar arg1 arg2 arg3 ...

exit 0

I work with a collection of these functions since years and maintain my handy little library with all sorts of solutions for day-to-day-scripting.

I hope this helps.

bakunin

And directories in FPATH should be in PATH.

Thanks for the comment Bakunin.

As I said, I can run the functions from within a script without a problem provided that I set the FPATH with the correct directory.

However, I can't run the function from the command line using 'ksh functionname', even though I have the same setup on another system running solaris instead of red hat which works fine

When you test your functions, do you always create a separate script to call that function?

Have you tried to run with only 'functionname'??

Hmm I feel kinda stupid for not trying that before. But when I switch to a ksh shell (instead of default bash) and I run just the function name, it works.
I don't understand why is doesn't work when I run it from within the bash shell using 'ksh functionname'