Help needed to write a function in a shell script!!

[KKeshari]

Dear All,

I need a help regarding writing a function in a shell, what exactly a function does!!

i am new to scripting so little bit confused!!

Regards
Keshari

[Freston]

Welcome to the forums!

Basic function form is this:

FunctionName() 
{
   command1
   command2
   command3
}

But you can find a wealth of information in the Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide

[KKeshari]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for your reply.

Just need one clarification:--

If i want to write some commands like "grep" "cat".. in a function and i want to call that function, then how i can do that, if possible can you give me one example..


Regards
Keshari

[Freston]

Ok, an example

#!/bin/bash
ExampleFunction()
{
    # Remember, this is just an example

        # Most direct:
	echo "First:	You've used 'ls' `grep -c ls ~/.bash_history` times"



	# Adding variable:
	count=`grep -c ls ~/.bash_history`
	echo "Second:	You've used 'ls' $count times"



	# Using a pipe:
	count=`cat ~/.bash_history | grep -c ls`
	echo "Third:	You've used 'ls' $count times"



	# Added whitespace for readability:
	count=`
		cat		~/.bash_history	|\
		grep 		ls		|\
		wc -l				`

	echo	"Fourth:	You've used 'ls' $count times"


}


echo "Calling function:"
ExampleFunction

As you see, you call a function as if it where a command. And it'll execute whatever is between the brackets { }