Increment a global variable in Bash
Here's a shell script:
globvar=0
function myfunc {
let globvar=globvar+1
echo "myfunc: $globvar"
}
myfunc
echo "something" | myfunc
echo "Global: $globvar"
When called, it prints out the following:
$ sh zzz.sh
myfunc: 1
myfunc: 2
Global: 1
$ bash zzz.sh
myfunc: 1
myfunc: 2
Global: 1
$ zsh zzz.sh
myfunc: 1
myfunc: 2
Global: 2
The question is: why this happens and what behavior is correct?
P.S. I have a strange feeling that function behind the pipe is called in a forked shell... So, can there be a simple workaround?
P.P.S. This function is a simple test wrapper. It runs test application and analyzes its output. Then it increments $PASSED or $FAILED variable开发者_StackOverflow中文版s. Finally, you get a number of passed/failed tests in global variables. The usage is like:
test-util << EOF | myfunc
input for test #1
EOF
test-util << EOF | myfunc
input for test #2
EOF
echo "Passed: $PASSED, failed: $FAILED"
Korn shell gives the same results as zsh, by the way.
Please see BashFAQ/024. Pipes create subshells in Bash and variables are lost when subshells exit.
Based on your example, I would restructure it something like this:
globvar=0
function myfunc {
echo $(($1 + 1))
}
myfunc "$globvar"
globalvar=$(echo "something" | myfunc "$globalvar")
Piping something into myfunc
in sh
or bash
causes a new shell to spawn. You can confirm this by adding a long sleep in myfunc
. While it's sleeping call ps and you'll see a subprocess. When the function returns, that sub shell exits without changing the value in the parent process.
If you really need that value to be changed, you'll need to return a value from the function and check $PIPESTATUS after, I guess, like this:
globvar=0
function myfunc {
let globvar=globvar+1
echo "myfunc: $globvar"
return $globvar
}
myfunc
echo "something" | myfunc
globvar=${PIPESTATUS[1]}
echo "Global: $globvar"
The problem is 'which end of a pipeline using built-ins is executed by the original process?'
In zsh, it looks like the last command in the pipeline is executed by the main shell script when the command is a function or built-in.
In Bash (and sh is likely to be a link to Bash if you're on Linux), then either both commands are run in a sub-shell or the first command is run by the main process and the others are run by sub-shells.
Clearly, when the function is run in a sub-shell, it does not affect the variable in the parent shell (only the global in the sub-shell).
Consider adding an extra test:
echo Something | { myfunc; echo $globvar; }
echo $globvar
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