Function doesn't execute in script

Question

I created this script called ShellScript.sh, and in this script is as follows:

#!/bin/sh
# Shell script 

function help {
  echo ""
  echo "./ShellScript.sh {start | stat}"
  echo ""
  echo "These are some commands:"
  echo ""

  # Start command
  echo "start"
  echo "This starts the process"
  echo ""

  # Stat command
  echo "stat"
  echo " abcxyz"
  echo ""
}

However, on the command line, when I type "./ShellScript.sh help", nothing happens. I've been trying to figure out this problem for a day now and am sure I'm missing something small but I don't know what it is!

Everything your script does is does defining help function, you need to add something more. — Arkadiusz Drabczyk
– Arkadiusz Drabczyk, Commented Jul 12, 2017 at 13:17

Jeff Schaller · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-12 13:31:41Z

2

It's unclear what your final goal is, but calling ./ShellScript.sh help passes the parameter "help" to the script; as Arkadiusz Drabczyk commented, all that ShellScript.sh is doing is setting up a function, then exiting.

It appears as though you are building up an option-driven script to start or stat a process, in which case you need some "main"-level code to parse the parameters and call the function(s).

For example, add this to the end of your ShellScript.sh:

case "$1" in
start)
    echo "This starts the process"
    ;;
stat)
    echo "stat"
    echo " abcxyz"
    ;;
help)
    help
    ;;
*)
    echo "usage: $0 start|stat"
    ;;
esac

As a suggestion, "stat" is really similar (to humans) to "start"; consider "status" instead?

answered Jul 12, 2017 at 13:31

Jeff Schaller♦

68.8k35 gold badges122 silver badges266 bronze badges

This helped me solve my problem! Thanks a lot for your suggestion on using status too. Only started using shell scripting 2 days ago so I'm relatively new to all this

Leah
– Leah

2017-07-12 13:50:49 +00:00
Commented Jul 12, 2017 at 13:50

Add a comment |

Bob Eager · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-12 13:30:22Z

0

You've defined a function, but you haven't actually done anything with it. You'd need to call that function in the script. If this is working towards a more general approach where you want to call one of several functions depending on the argument to your script, simply make it this (I've just shown part of it, adding `$`` at the end):

    # Stat command
    echo "stat"
    echo " abcxyz"
    echo ""
}

$1

answered Jul 12, 2017 at 13:30

Bob Eager

3,7382 gold badges16 silver badges30 bronze badges

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