To write robust Bash scripts, I recommend you to:
1. Activate the Bash options: errexit, nounset
Add these two options at the top of your Bash scripts:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -o errexit
set -o nounset
- errexit will stop your Bash script each time a command in your script returns an exit code different from “0”. It does not show any message when it quits, this is why it is important to show a traceback (check the second advice below “show a Bash traceback”).
- nounset will stop your script and output an error if you attempt to use undefined variables. nounset is very important because it can avoid you to run dangerous commands like: rm –fr “/$undefinedvariable”
2. Show a Bash traceback
In some cases, the option “set -o errexit” doesn’t show any message when it stops your Bash scripts (e.g. var=$(your_failed_command) will exit silently). I recommend you to add the source code below at the top of your Bash scripts to make them show a traceback each time “errexit” stops your script:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -o errexit # stop the script each time a command fails
set -o nounset # stop if you attempt to use an undef variable
function bash_traceback() {
local lasterr="$?"
set +o xtrace
local code="-1"
local bash_command=${BASH_COMMAND}
echo "Error in ${BASH_SOURCE[1]}:${BASH_LINENO[0]} ('$bash_command' exited with status $lasterr)"
if [ ${#FUNCNAME[@]} -gt 2 ]; then
# Print out the stack trace described by $function_stack
echo "Traceback of ${BASH_SOURCE[1]} (most recent call last):"
for ((i=0; i < ${#FUNCNAME[@]} - 1; i++)); do
local funcname="${FUNCNAME[$i]}"
[ "$i" -eq "0" ] && funcname=$bash_command
echo -e " $i: ${BASH_SOURCE[$i+1]}:${BASH_LINENO[$i]}\t$funcname"
done
fi
echo "Exiting with status ${code}"
exit "${code}"
}
# provide an error handler whenever a command exits nonzero
trap 'bash_traceback' ERR
# propagate ERR trap handler functions, expansions and subshells
set -o errtrace
The traceback will help you to know which command in your Bash script failed with a return code different from “0”:
Error in ./test.sh:43 ('false' exited with status 1)
Traceback of ./test.sh (most recent call last):
0: ./test.sh:43 false
1: ./test.sh:49 main
Exiting with status -1
3. Check your Bash scripts with shellcheck and follow the recommendations of Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide.
