Revision [1402]
This is an old revision of SyntaxFunction made by DavidLee on 2010-05-13 09:42:00.
Functions
Functions can be declared in two forms, with or without the keyword "function". These forms behave identically.
In both forms the arguments to the functions are passed as positional parameters ($1 .. $N)
Note: prior to version 1.0.5 "function name ()" and "name ()" behaved differently. The former syntax caused all variable references to be local.
From version 1.0.5 onwards this has been fixed to conform to the behaviour of bash/ksh where variables are all global unless the "local" modifier is used.
name () { list; }
function name () { list; }
function name { list; }
This declares a function "name". The body of the function when executed runs in the same context as the parent shell, with the exception of Positional Parameters ($1 ... $N).
This means that variables assigned within the function have a "side effect" of writing into the global environment for the current shell.
Note: starting with version 1.0.5 local variables can be defined.
Example
setit ()
{
A=$1 ;
}
A="no value"
echo $A
setit value
echo $AResult
no value value
Return Value
The Return value of a function is the return value of the last command, or the argument of the return function.
Example
foo ()
{
true ;
}
foo && echo Is TrueResult
Is True
Example
foo ()
{
return 2 ;
}
foo
echo $?Result
2
CoreSyntax
Commands
