Shell functions library

• You can store all your function in a function files called functions library.
• You can load all function into the current script or the command prompt.
• The syntax is as follows to load all functions:

. /path/to/your/functions.sh

Example

Create a function file called myfunctions.sh:

#!/bin/bash
# set variables 
declare -r TRUE=0
declare -r FALSE=1
declare -r PASSWD_FILE=/etc/passwd
 
##################################################################
# Purpose: Converts a string to lower case
# Arguments:
#   $1 -> String to convert to lower case
##################################################################
function to_lower() 
{
    local str="$@"
    local output     
    output=$(tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]'<<<"${str}")
    echo $output
}
##################################################################
# Purpose: Display an error message and die
# Arguments:
#   $1 -> Message
#   $2 -> Exit status (optional)
##################################################################
function die() 
{
    local m="$1"	# message
    local e=${2-1}	# default exit status 1
    echo "$m" 
    exit $e
}
##################################################################
# Purpose: Return true if script is executed by the root user
# Arguments: none
# Return: True or False
##################################################################
function is_root() 
{
   [ $(id -u) -eq 0 ] && return $TRUE || return $FALSE
}
 
##################################################################
# Purpose: Return true $user exits in /etc/passwd
# Arguments: $1 (username) -> Username to check in /etc/passwd
# Return: True or False
##################################################################
function is_user_exits() 
{
    local u="$1"
    grep -q "^${u}" $PASSWD_FILE && return $TRUE || return $FALSE
}

You can load myfunctions.sh into the current shell environment, enter:

. myfunctions.sh

OR

. /path/to/myfunctions.sh

How do I load myfunctions.sh into the script?

Create a script called functionsdemo.sh:

#!/bin/bash
# Load the  myfunctions.sh 
# My local path is /home/vivek/lsst2/myfunctions.sh
. /home/vivek/lsst2/myfunctions.sh
 
# Define local variables
# var1 is not visitable or used by myfunctions.sh
var1="The Mahabharata is the longest and, arguably, one of the greatest epic poems in any language."
 
# Invoke the is_root()
is_root && echo "You are logged in as root." || echo "You are not logged in as root."
 
# Find out if user account vivek exits or not
is_user_exits "vivek" && echo "Account found." || echo "Account not found."
 
# Display $var1
echo -e "*** Orignal quote: \n${var1}"
 
# Invoke the to_lower()
# Pass $var1 as arg to to_lower()
# Use command substitution inside echo
echo -e "*** Lowercase version: \n$(to_lower ${var1})"

Save and close the file. Run it as follows:

chmod +x functionsdemo.sh
./functionsdemo.sh

Sample outputs:

You are not logged in as root.
Account found.
*** Orignal quote: 
The Mahabharata is the longest and, arguably, one of the greatest epic poems in any language.
*** Lowercase version: 
the mahabharata is the longest and, arguably, one of the greatest epic poems in any language.