Bash script - "err: command not found"?

Question

I am writing a bash script and I am using a for cycle to check my arguments.

for var in "$@"
do
    test_arg "$var"
done

And this is my test_arg function

function test_arg {
    [ -n "$1" ] || err "Empty argument"
    [ -f "$1" ] || err "Argument '$1' is not a file"
    [ -r "$1" ] || err "Data file '$1' is not readable"
    [ -s "$1" ] || err "Data file '$1' is empty"
    egrep -v '^-?([0-9]+|[0-9]*\.[0-9]+)$' "$1" && { echo "Bad data format in '$1'"; exit 1; }
}

However, when any of these conditions are not met, script only writes out "script.sh: line XX: err: command not found". I am not quite sure about the testing, I am a bash begginer.

Thank you very much for your answers

err "Empty argument" -- err is not a built-in command, so unless you define it as a function, it won't be found. — Charles Duffy
– Charles Duffy, Commented May 8, 2016 at 16:46
By the way, don't use the function keyword; it serves no purpose but to make your code incompatible with baseline POSIX shells. Just test_arg() { ...} will do. — Charles Duffy
– Charles Duffy, Commented May 8, 2016 at 16:47
(...anyhow, this has nothing to do with -s, or with the [ or test builtins). — Charles Duffy
– Charles Duffy, Commented May 8, 2016 at 16:47
If we are going to point out the function keyword (which I agree with Charles about), don't give do it's own line. It serves no purpose but to make your code harder to read. for var in "$@"; do — SaintHax
– SaintHax, Commented May 8, 2016 at 17:32

Charles Duffy · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-08 16:46:48Z

2

Your code depends on a function named err. Consider defining it like so:

err() { echo "$*" >&2; exit 1; }

answered May 8, 2016 at 16:46

Charles Duffy

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1 Comment

Jesse_Pinkman Over a year ago

yes - now it works like a charm - thank you very much sir - will accept as an answer when possible

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