2

When I am calling function in shell script like it's not working

testfunction

but if I call function like below it's working

$(testfunction);

Any thoughts? I am running bash shell on Ubuntu

Thank you, Sambhav

Hi All, Here is a sample script and function decl. and call. As mentioned in the question the funcation call - function is not working but $(function is working) 

#!/bin/bash 
TITLE=My Title"; 
########FUNCTIONS 
### Function Declaration 
test() { echo "echoing test"; } 
cat << EOF <html> <head> <TITLE>"$TITLE"</TITLE>
</head>
</body> 
### Calling the function here - Not working test 
#### The Below function call is working $(test) 
</body> 
</html> 
EOF
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6
  • 2
    Please show how and where you define the function. Commented Aug 9, 2014 at 3:19
  • 1
    "it doesn't work" is the worst possible description. What does happen? What do you expect to happen? How are the answers different? Commented Aug 9, 2014 at 3:27
  • 1
    More importantly actually is that you show your error messages. Commented Aug 9, 2014 at 3:39
  • 1
    You cannot add a statement inside a "here-document". Everything between <<EOF and EOF is a string which gets expanded. So you can only use variables or other expressions (like $()). Commented Aug 9, 2014 at 6:22
  • 1
    @Sambhav You can edit your post. Commented Aug 9, 2014 at 6:34

1 Answer 1

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5

$(cmd) expands to a string with the result of the cmd executed. It is not often used with functions, but it can be. See this illustration which invokes the function in both styles:

$ cat sample.sh
#!/bin/sh
bla() {
  echo something
}
# print something
bla
# record something
BLA=$(bla)
echo recorded: $BLA
###
$ ./sample.sh
something
recorded: something

Following up on your comment, your problem seems to be the "here document" used with <<. A here document is basically a multi-line string:

echo "this is a string, bla is not recognized as a function"
echo "this is a string, $(bla) executes the function and replaces the output"
cat << EOF
Multi Line
$(bla)
Document
EOF

Alternatively you can end the here document:

cat << EOF1
<html><header><titl
<title>test</title></header>
<body>
EOF1
# this section is script code, not here-document
bla
#
cat << EOF2
</body></html>
EOF2
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3 Comments

please add it to your question, then you can format it readable.
Typo: ${bla] should be $(bla) - mine too
Great, Thanks eckes.... About the suggestion for editing the question instead of comment, I will keep in mind from the next time. Best Regards, Sambhav

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