functions in bash scripting
 

Hello

I would like to know if bash can only handle a function by itself or whether a fucntion can be used where it accepts a variable from the main program? From my reading on bash scripting sites it looks like the former is possible. below is an e.g. of what I mean:

#!/bin/bash
#
#Script to clarify my above question about functions used in bash
#test function
#
testintvalue(x)
{
if [$x == 5]; then
y=x+3 else
y=3
echo $y "is the total value"
fi
}
#
#Main program lines here
#
clear
echo "Welcome! Please type in a number between 1 and 9 inclusive"
read num
#Call the above function with the value of num passed to it
testintvalue(num)
#end of script

I know the above might have some syntax errors regarding the if statement etc, but what's important to me is if I can pass variables to the function like I did above.

Thanks
wvw

Fns certainly can take params: http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/complexfunct.html

When I was reading abs I found it rather buggy and plenty of text was not related to bash directly. Maybe is it me only being overly captious.

When writing a function in Bash you do NOT specify parameters in the function declaration. Inside the function you refer to parameters positionally, $1, $2 etc. These parameters are local to a function, hence not the command line parameters.

You pass parameters to a function by appending the call with parameters:
So if you have on the command line one parameter, and you want to pass that to you function:
Run you program with sh -x youprogram while developing, it helps understand where the values go.

jlinkels

Hi Guys

Thanks for all the help :) That was exactly what I was looking for.

Cheers
wvw