Exit a Script On Error

Question

I'm building a Shell Script that has a if function like this one:

if jarsigner -verbose -keystore $keyst -keystore $pass $jar_file $kalias
then
    echo $jar_file signed sucessfully
else
    echo ERROR: Failed to sign $jar_file. Please recheck the variables
fi

...

I want the execution of the script to finish after displaying the error message. How I can do this?

Answer 1

If you put set -e in a script, the script will terminate as soon as any command inside it fails (i.e. as soon as any command returns a nonzero status). This doesn't let you write your own message, but often the failing command's own messages are enough.

The advantage of this approach is that it's automatic: you don't run the risk of forgetting to deal with an error case.

Commands whose status is tested by a conditional (such as if, && or ||) do not terminate the script (otherwise the conditional would be pointless). An idiom for the occasional command whose failure doesn't matter is command-that-may-fail || true. You can also turn set -e off for a part of the script with set +e.

Answer 2

Are you looking for exit?

This is the best bash guide around. http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/

In context:

if jarsigner -verbose -keystore $keyst -keystore $pass $jar_file $kalias
then
    echo $jar_file signed sucessfully
else
    echo ERROR: Failed to sign $jar_file. Please recheck the variables 1>&2
    exit 1 # terminate and indicate error
fi

...

Answer 3

If you want to be able to handle an error instead of blindly exiting, instead of using set -e, use a trap on the ERR pseudo signal.

#!/bin/bash
f () {
    errorCode=$? # save the exit code as the first thing done in the trap function
    echo "error $errorCode"
    echo "the command executing at the time of the error was"
    echo "$BASH_COMMAND"
    echo "on line ${BASH_LINENO[0]}"
    # do some error handling, cleanup, logging, notification
    # $BASH_COMMAND contains the command that was being executed at the time of the trap
    # ${BASH_LINENO[0]} contains the line number in the script of that command
    # exit the script or return to try again, etc.
    exit $errorCode  # or use some other value or do return instead
}
trap f ERR
# do some stuff
false # returns 1 so it triggers the trap
# maybe do some other stuff

Other traps can be set to handle other signals, including the usual Unix signals plus the other Bash pseudo signals RETURN and DEBUG.

Answer 4

Here is the way to do it:

#!/bin/sh

abort()
{
    echo >&2 '
***************
*** ABORTED ***
***************
'
    echo "An error occurred. Exiting..." >&2
    exit 1
}

trap 'abort' 0

set -e

# Add your script below....
# If an error occurs, the abort() function will be called.
#----------------------------------------------------------
# ===> Your script goes here
# Done!
trap : 0

echo >&2 '
************
*** DONE *** 
************
'