Assign the returned value of a function to a variable

trivektor · #1 (**permalink**) 09-28-2006

Hi,

Can anyone please show me how to assign the returned value of a function to a variable? Thanks.

Yogesh Sawant · #2 (**permalink**) 09-29-2006

in a shell script:

function_name # call the function
return_val=$? # store the return value
echo $return_val # do something with the return value

Function can return a value, called an exit status

The exit status may be explicitly specified by a return statement, otherwise it is the exit status of the last command in the function

This exit status may be used in the script by referencing it as $?

The largest positive integer a function can return is 255

Dhruva · #3 (**permalink**) 09-29-2006

Here is one example::

Code:

month_to_num() {
if [ -n "$1" ]
then
t_month=$1
case $t_month in

Jan) return 01;;
Feb) return 02;;
Mar) return 03;;
Apr) return 04;;
May) return 05;;
Jun) return 06;;
Jul) return 07;;
Aug) return 08;;
Sep) return 09;;
Oct) return 10;;
Nov) return 11;;
Dec) return 12;;
*) return 0;;

esac
fi
}

To call a function and store result in a variable see below lines

Code:

month_to_num $time_month
v_month_index=$?

if you call this function with parameter jan,feb,mar....you will store their index value in variable v_month_index.

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