# Function throwing an error **URL:** \ **Category:** Shell Programming and Scripting\ **Created:** [July 4, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/function-throwing-an-error/344187 "2014-07-04T02:06:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![swasid](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/swasid/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@swasid](https://community.unix.com/u/swasid)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 2:06am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/function-throwing-an-error/344187/1 "2014-07-04T02:06:34Z")
Hi All I have two shell scripts where the second is getting invoked from the first. E.g. `test1.sh and test2.sh` Within test1, the code is something like this: ```nohighlight #!/bin/bash . test2.sh usage() { echo "..." echo "....." } SRC=$1 DEST=$2 case "$3" in tran) doTran ;; *) usage && exit 1 ;; esac ``` and within test2.sh, the code looks like this: ```nohighlight #!/bin/bash doTran() { src=( "sample1*.gz" "sample2*.gz" ) target=( "SAMPLE1.csv" "SAMPLE2.csv" ) trigger "tran" } ``` When the main script `test1.sh` is executed, it's throwing the below error: ```nohighlight test2.sh[3]: 0403-057 Syntax error at line 4 : `(' is not expected. ``` Please help ---
**Author:** ![SriniShoo](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/srinishoo/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@SriniShoo](https://community.unix.com/u/SriniShoo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/function-throwing-an-error/344187/2 "2014-07-04T02:48:40Z")
what flavor of unix you are trying this in ---
**Author:** ![swasid](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/swasid/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@swasid](https://community.unix.com/u/swasid)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/function-throwing-an-error/344187/3 "2014-07-04T03:04:21Z")
Am running this on AIX 5 ---
**Author:** ![SriniShoo](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/srinishoo/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@SriniShoo](https://community.unix.com/u/SriniShoo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:08am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/function-throwing-an-error/344187/4 "2014-07-04T03:08:43Z")
I dont see any issues in test1.sh / test2.sh I ran the above code as it is without any issues except I replaced `trigger ` with `echo` ---
**Author:** ![Scrutinizer](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/scrutinizer/32/1216_2.png) [@Scrutinizer](https://community.unix.com/u/Scrutinizer)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:15am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/function-throwing-an-error/344187/5 "2014-07-04T03:15:20Z")
How do you execute test1.sh? If for example, you execute the script like ```nohighlight sh script1.sh ``` then you are bypassing the shebang on line one and script does not get executed with `bash` , but rather the default POSIX shell ( `/usr/bin/sh` ). If you want to use `bash` for that script, then you either need to make it executable with `chmod` and use: ```nohighlight /path/to/script1.sh ``` or if it is in your search path, you can use ```nohighlight script1.sh ``` you can also use: ```nohighlight bash script1.sh ``` ---
**Author:** ![clx](https://community.unix.com/letter_avatar/clx/32/6_22734026db12803ebb3e059622ac3534.png) [@clx](https://community.unix.com/u/clx)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 4:36am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/function-throwing-an-error/344187/6 "2014-07-04T04:36:28Z")
Also If you created the files in windows, don't forget to change the line endings. Easy way is ```nohighlight dos2unix file ``` ---
**Author:** ![Kibou](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/kibou/32/1665_2.png) [@Kibou](https://community.unix.com/u/Kibou)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 4:59am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/function-throwing-an-error/344187/7 "2014-07-05T04:59:35Z")
> [@scrutinizer](#): > > How do you execute test1.sh? If for example, you execute the script like > > ```plaintext > sh script1.sh > > ``` > > then you are bypassing the shebang on line one and script does not get executed with `bash` , but rather the default POSIX shell ( `/usr/bin/sh` ). If you want to use `bash` for that script, then you either need to make it executable with `chmod` and use: > > ```plaintext > /path/to/script1.sh > > ``` > > or if it is in your search path, you can use > > ```plaintext > script1.sh > > ``` > > you can also use: > > ```plaintext > bash script1.sh > > ``` That's right. I could reproduce what Scrutinizer said on my Linux as well. When executed with `sh` it gave me an error because it bypasses the shebang. But I came up with a question. Is there really a binary for `sh` in `/usr/bin/sh` in AIX? Because in Linux there's no executable or binary file for `sh` . `sh` is an internal behaviour of `bash` . The only executable of `sh` is a symbolic link to `bash` . Another question, briefly, what are the `= ( )` for? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Scrutinizer](https://community.unix.com/user_avatar/community.unix.com/scrutinizer/32/1216_2.png) [@Scrutinizer](https://community.unix.com/u/Scrutinizer)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 5:41am UTC](https://community.unix.com/t/function-throwing-an-error/344187/8 "2014-07-05T05:41:58Z")
@Kibou : That does not really matter. on AIX there are hard links from `/usr/bin/sh``/usr/bin/ksh` , `/bin/sh` and `/bin/ksh` to the same `ksh` . On many linux distribution there is a symbolic link from `/bin/sh` to `/bin/bash` . On derivatives of Debian this points to `dash` . When it is symbolic link to `bash` and `/bin/sh` is called then bash acts as if it was called with the `--posix` option... [Bash Reference Manual: Bash POSIX Mode](http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Bash-POSIX-Mode.html) `=( )` is used to assign values to arrays...