Subj : Re: Basic script help
To   : Avon
From : hyjinx
Date : Sat Aug 14 2021 05:24 pm

You can use functions in bash scripts, much more powerful, yet easy to use

you simply define them at the start of the script as so:

#!/bin/bash

functionname() {
    things
}

and you call it with the name of the function wherever you like in the script
as follows:

functionname $VAR1 $VAR2

if you want to pass it any variables, that is.

Note that inbuilt vars $1 and $2 etc are the first and second command-line
arg, so you can also make your script do interesting things depending upon
what arguments you call... eg suppose you have a script called arg.sh:

#!/bin/bash

if [ -z $1 ]
then
    echo "Your first command was $1"
else 
    echo "You didn't enter an argument on the command line. Bye"
fi

if [ $1 = "foo" ]
    echo "Ah, I see that $1 was foo. Wonderful!"
fi

if you run it at the cmldine you get:

$./arg.sh foo

you'll get two lines of output - saying your first command was foo, then the
second echo. Anyway, you get the drift. Hope this helps.

Al.


hyjinx // Alistair Ross
Author of 'Back to the BBS' Documentary: https://bit.ly/3tRINeL (YouTube)
alsgeeklab.com

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
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