Debugging functions

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

So here I have a simple function that I wish to debug. However, I am unable to debug the desired function even with set -o functrace enabled. Before resorting to asking this question, I had managed to find a possible solution that did not produce the desired results, which is located here.

How can I get bash debug my functions?

So here I have a simple function that I wish to debug. However, I am unable to debug the desired function even with set -o functrace enabled. Before resorting to asking this question, I had managed to find a possible solution that did not produce the desired results, which is located here.

How can I get bash debug my functions?

#!/bin/bash
echo "Hello World"
hello() {
    echo "Hello world"
}

output:

user@mac11:53:29~/desktop bash -x debug.sh 
+ echo 'Hello World'
Hello World
user@mac11:54:55~/desktop
2

Your function would be debugged - if you ever called it.

$ cat myScript
set -x
echo "Hello World"
hello() {
    echo "Hello world"
}

hello


$ ./myScript
+ echo 'Hello World'
Hello World
+ hello
+ echo 'Hello world'
Hello world
1 Like
3

Is debug.sh a built in function?
If yes, how to use it?

4

No, debug.sh is the name of BrandonD's shell script. The contents of debug.sh is shown in the 1st CODE tagged section of the 1st message in this thread. :wink:

5

I suppose it would be wise to call it, but in some scripts that I've seen do call the function. That's probably where I picked up that practice from. Is there any behavioral difference if a function is called or not?

6

If a function is never called, then it should be deleted, since it just fills up the space :slight_smile: