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On Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 12:34:38PM +0100, Clive Standbridge wrote:
[...]
> > $ false
> > $ test $? && echo ok || echo error $?
>
> The second $? in that line is different from the first; it's the exit
> status of "test". That can be demonstrated, with a corrected test
> command, by
No, because when the $? is expanded, the test hasn't run yet. This $?
*is* the (stringified) exit status of false, as can be seen in this
sequence:
tomas@trotzki:~$ false
tomas@trotzki:~$ test $? -eq 1 && echo "False"
False
tomas@trotzki:~$ true
tomas@trotzki:~$ test $? -eq 1 && echo "False"
tomas@trotzki:~$
> $ grep stuff /no/such/file
> grep: /no/such/file: No such file or directory
> $ echo $?
> 2
(as, BTW., *this* $? is not (yet) echo's exit status)
> $ grep stuff /no/such/file
> grep: /no/such/file: No such file or directory
> $ test $? -eq 0 && echo ok || echo error $?
> error 1
This one (eval goes left-to-right) should be the "test $? -eq 0"'s exit
status (it's not 0, so the && branch isn't taken).
> As was mentioned in an earlier reply, you can get round that by saving
> the exit status in a variable, e.g.
If you find yourself stashing too much in variables, you're holding
it wrong (sometimes you must, though).
> $ grep stuff /no/such/file
> grep: /no/such/file: No such file or directory
> $ RET=$?
> $ test $RET -eq 0 && echo ok || echo error $RET
> error 2
This is better spelt as
grep stuff /no/such/file && echo ok || echo error $?
(or, se Greg's post downthread):
if grep stuff /no/such/file ; then
echo ok
else
echo error $?
fi
Unless you need that exit status later in your script. Then,
stashing it in a variable may make sense.
Cheers
- -- tomás
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