I want to create a bash function that iterates over an array and returns 0 if an element passed as argument does not exist in the array, or 1 otherwise.
The following code however does not print anything on stdout.
function checkparsed {
tocheck="$1"
shift
for item in $@
do
if [ "$item" = "$tocheck" ]; then
return 0
fi
done
return 1
}
mdfiles=('foo')
echo "$(checkparsed foo ${mdfiles[@]})"
You are capturing the output of the function (there is none).
To print 0 or 1, either echo them in the function directly (don't forget to return), or use echo $? after running the function.
To handle spaces and glob characters in elements in ${mdfiles[@]}, you should use double quotes:
for item in "$@"
# and
checkparsed foo "${mdfiles[@]}"
This line is the issue:
echo "$(checkparsed foo ${mdfiles[@]})"
since your function is not echoing anything but you are returning values 0 or 1.
You actually need to check for $? for the return value from your function:
checkparsed foo ${mdfiles[@]}
echo $?
0
Or else use return value in condition evaluation:
checkparsed foo ${mdfiles[@]} && echo "found" || echo "not found"
found
checkparsed food ${mdfiles[@]} && echo "found" || echo "not found"
not found
