How to Make a Bash Script Continue to Run After an Error

Error Handling in Bash Scripts
Continuing Bash Scripts After Error
Ignoring Errors in Bash Scripts
Recovering from Errors in Bash Scripts
Best Practices for Bash Script Error Handling
Exit Codes in Bash Script Errors
Examples of Bash Script Error Handling
Implementing Try-Catch in Bash Scripts
Logging Errors in Bash Scripts
Displaying Custom Error Messages in Bash Scripts
Recovering from Errors in Bash Scripts: Strategies and Techniques
Understanding Exit Codes in Bash Script Errors
Bash Script Error Handling: Real-Life Examples
Try-Catch in Bash Scripts: Best Practices and Use Cases
Logging Errors in Bash Scripts: Tips and Tricks
Additional Resources

Table of Contents

Error Handling in Bash Scripts

Error handling is an essential aspect of writing reliable and robust bash scripts. When a script encounters an error, it can disrupt the execution flow and cause unexpected behavior. In order to ensure that a bash script continues after an error, it is important to implement proper error handling mechanisms.

In bash, errors can occur due to various reasons, such as invalid input, file not found, or a command not executing successfully. By default, when an error occurs in a bash script, the script terminates immediately. However, there are techniques available to handle errors and allow the script to continue executing.

Related Article: How To Echo a Newline In Bash

Continuing Bash Scripts After Error

#!/bin/bash

# Enable exit on error
set -e

# Command 1
command1

# Command 2
command2

# Command 3
command3

In the above example, if command1 fails, the script will exit immediately and command2 and command3 will not be executed.

To ensure that the script continues executing even if a command fails, we can use the || true construct after the command that might fail. This will make the command return a successful exit status, regardless of its actual success or failure.

#!/bin/bash

# Command 1
command1 || true

# Command 2
command2

# Command 3
command3

In this example, if command1 fails, the script will continue executing command2 and command3.

Ignoring Errors in Bash Scripts

In some cases, you may want to ignore errors and continue executing the script. This can be useful when you want to handle errors manually or when you want to execute a fallback command if a command fails.

To ignore errors and continue executing the script, you can use the || true construct after the command that might fail, as discussed in the previous section.

#!/bin/bash

# Command 1
command1 || true

# Command 2
command2

# Command 3
command3

In this example, if command1 fails, the script will continue executing command2 and command3.

Recovering from Errors in Bash Scripts

While it is possible to ignore errors and continue executing a script, it is generally recommended to handle errors and take appropriate actions to recover from them. This can involve logging the error, displaying an error message, or executing fallback commands.

One way to handle errors in bash scripts is by using the trap command. The trap command allows you to specify a command or function to be executed when a specific signal or error occurs.

#!/bin/bash

# Function to handle errors
handle_error() {
    echo "An error occurred"
    # Additional error handling logic
    exit 1
}

# Set the error handler function
trap handle_error ERR

# Command 1
command1

# Command 2
command2

# Command 3
command3

In this example, if any command fails, the handle_error function will be executed, which displays an error message and performs additional error handling logic before exiting the script.

Best Practices for Bash Script Error Handling

When it comes to error handling in bash scripts, there are some best practices that can help ensure the scripts are robust and reliable:

1. Use the set -e option or set -o errexit command to exit immediately if any command fails.
2. Use the || true construct to ignore errors and continue executing the script if needed.
3. Implement error handling logic, such as using the trap command to execute custom error handling functions or commands.
4. Log errors to a file or a centralized logging system for troubleshooting and debugging purposes.
5. Display informative error messages to users to provide guidance on how to resolve the issue.
6. Use proper exit codes to indicate the success or failure of a script.
7. Test the error handling logic thoroughly to ensure it behaves as expected in different scenarios.

Exit Codes in Bash Script Errors

In bash, every command returns an exit code, which indicates whether the command executed successfully or encountered an error. By convention, an exit code of 0 represents success, while any non-zero exit code indicates an error.

When writing bash scripts, it is a good practice to set proper exit codes to indicate the success or failure of the script. This allows other scripts or processes to programmatically determine the outcome of the script execution.

To set the exit code in a bash script, you can use the exit command followed by the desired exit code.

#!/bin/bash

# Command 1
command1

# Command 2
command2

# Command 3
command3

# Set exit code
exit 0

In this example, the script will return an exit code of 0, indicating success.

It is common to use different exit codes to represent different types of errors. For example, you can use exit code 1 to indicate a general error, exit code 2 to indicate incorrect usage, and so on.

#!/bin/bash

# Command 1
command1 || exit 1

# Command 2
command2 || exit 2

# Command 3
command3 || exit 3

# Set exit code
exit 0

In this example, if any of the commands fail, the script will exit with the corresponding exit code, indicating the type of error encountered.

Examples of Bash Script Error Handling

Let’s take a look at a couple of examples that demonstrate error handling in bash scripts.

Example 1: Handling File Not Found Error

#!/bin/bash

# Function to handle file not found error
handle_file_not_found() {
    echo "File not found: $1"
    exit 1
}

# Set the error handler function
trap 'handle_file_not_found "$@"' ERR

# Check if file exists
if [ -f "myfile.txt" ]; then
    echo "File exists"
else
    # File not found, raise an error
    echo "File not found: myfile.txt"
    exit 1
fi

In this example, if the file “myfile.txt” does not exist, an error will be raised and the handle_file_not_found function will be executed, which displays an error message and exits the script with an exit code of 1.

Example 2: Recovering from Command Failure

#!/bin/bash

# Function to handle command failure
handle_command_failure() {
    echo "Command failed: $1"
    # Additional error handling logic
    exit 1
}

# Set the error handler function
trap 'handle_command_failure "$?"' ERR

# Command 1
ls /nonexistent

# Command 2
echo "This command will not be executed"

In this example, the first command ls /nonexistent will fail because the directory does not exist. As a result, the handle_command_failure function will be executed, which displays an error message and exits the script with an exit code of 1. The subsequent command, echo "This command will not be executed", will not be executed.

Implementing Try-Catch in Bash Scripts

Bash does not have built-in support for try-catch blocks like some other programming languages. However, it is possible to implement try-catch-like functionality using the trap command and custom error handling functions.

To implement try-catch in bash scripts, you can define an error handling function that will be executed when an error occurs. Inside the function, you can perform any necessary error handling logic, such as logging the error or displaying an error message. You can also use the return command to exit the current function or script.

Here’s an example that demonstrates how to implement try-catch in bash scripts:

#!/bin/bash

# Function to handle errors
handle_error() {
    echo "An error occurred"
    # Additional error handling logic
    exit 1
}

# Set the error handler function
trap handle_error ERR

# Try block
try {
    # Command 1
    command1

    # Command 2
    command2

    # Command 3
    command3
}

# Catch block
catch {
    # Error handling logic
    echo "Error occurred: $?"
}

# Execute the try block
try

In this example, the handle_error function is defined to handle errors. The trap command is used to set the error handler function to be executed when an error occurs.

The script is divided into a try block and a catch block. The try block contains the code that may raise an error, while the catch block contains the error handling logic.

If an error occurs inside the try block, the handle_error function defined in the catch block will be executed, which displays an error message and exits the script with an exit code of 1.

Logging Errors in Bash Scripts

Logging errors in bash scripts is an important practice to facilitate troubleshooting and debugging. By logging errors, you can capture information about the error, such as the command that failed, the error message, and any relevant context. This information can then be used to diagnose and fix the issue.

To log errors in bash scripts, you can redirect the error output (stderr) to a file using the 2> operator. This will redirect any error messages produced by commands to the specified file.

Here’s an example that demonstrates how to log errors in bash scripts:

#!/bin/bash

# Log file
LOG_FILE="error.log"

# Function to handle errors
handle_error() {
    local command="$1"
    local error="$2"
    local timestamp=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d %T")
    
    # Log the error
    echo "[$timestamp] Error in command: $command" >> "$LOG_FILE"
    echo "[$timestamp] Error message: $error" >> "$LOG_FILE"
    echo >> "$LOG_FILE"  # Add a newline
    
    # Additional error handling logic
    exit 1
}

# Set the error handler function
trap 'handle_error "$BASH_COMMAND" "$?"' ERR

# Command 1
command1 2>> "$LOG_FILE"

# Command 2
command2 2>> "$LOG_FILE"

# Command 3
command3 2>> "$LOG_FILE"

In this example, the handle_error function is defined to handle errors. Inside the function, the command that failed ($BASH_COMMAND) and the error code ($?) are passed as arguments. The function then logs the error information to the specified log file.

The trap command is used to set the error handler function to be executed when an error occurs. The 2>> operator is used to redirect the error output of each command to the log file.

Displaying Custom Error Messages in Bash Scripts

Displaying custom error messages in bash scripts can be useful to provide guidance and instructions to users when an error occurs. Custom error messages can help users understand the nature of the error and suggest possible solutions.

To display custom error messages in bash scripts, you can use the echo command to print the desired error message to the standard error (stderr) stream. The 2>&1 redirection operator can be used to redirect the standard error to the standard output, allowing the error message to be displayed.

Here’s an example that demonstrates how to display custom error messages in bash scripts:

#!/bin/bash

# Function to handle errors
handle_error() {
    local command="$1"
    local error="$2"
    
    # Print custom error message
    echo "An error occurred in command: $command" >&2
    echo "Error message: $error" >&2
    
    # Additional error handling logic
    exit 1
}

# Set the error handler function
trap 'handle_error "$BASH_COMMAND" "$?"' ERR

# Command 1
command1

# Command 2
command2

# Command 3
command3

In this example, the handle_error function is defined to handle errors. Inside the function, the command that failed ($BASH_COMMAND) and the error code ($?) are passed as arguments. The function then prints custom error messages to the standard error stream using the >&2 redirection operator.

The trap command is used to set the error handler function to be executed when an error occurs.

When an error occurs, the custom error messages will be displayed to the user, providing information about the command that failed and the associated error message. This can help users understand the cause of the error and take appropriate actions to resolve it.

Recovering from Errors in Bash Scripts: Strategies and Techniques

When an error occurs in a bash script, it is important to handle the error and take appropriate actions to recover from it. This can involve logging the error, displaying an error message, executing fallback commands, or performing additional error handling logic.

Here are some strategies and techniques for recovering from errors in bash scripts:

1. Use the trap command: The trap command allows you to specify a command or function to be executed when a specific signal or error occurs. You can use the trap command to set an error handling function that performs the necessary error recovery actions.

#!/bin/bash

# Function to handle errors
handle_error() {
    echo "An error occurred"
    # Additional error handling logic
    exit 1
}

# Set the error handler function
trap handle_error ERR

# Command 1
command1

# Command 2
command2

# Command 3
command3

In this example, if any command fails, the handle_error function will be executed, which displays an error message and performs additional error handling logic before exiting the script.

2. Use exit codes: Bash scripts can use exit codes to indicate the success or failure of a script. By setting proper exit codes, you can programmatically determine the outcome of the script execution and take appropriate actions based on the exit code.

#!/bin/bash

# Command 1
command1 || exit 1

# Command 2
command2 || exit 2

# Command 3
command3 || exit 3

# Set exit code
exit 0

In this example, if any of the commands fail, the script will exit with the corresponding exit code, indicating the type of error encountered.

3. Implement fallback commands: In some cases, it may be necessary to execute fallback commands when a command fails. Fallback commands can be used to handle errors gracefully and provide alternative functionality.

#!/bin/bash

# Command 1
command1 || fallback_command1

# Command 2
command2 || fallback_command2

# Command 3
command3 || fallback_command3

In this example, if command1 fails, the fallback_command1 will be executed as a fallback. Similarly, if command2 or command3 fails, the corresponding fallback commands will be executed.

4. Log errors: Logging errors can be valuable for troubleshooting and debugging. By logging errors, you can capture information about the error, such as the command that failed, the error message, and any relevant context. This information can then be used to diagnose and fix the issue.

#!/bin/bash

# Log file
LOG_FILE="error.log"

# Function to handle errors
handle_error() {
    local command="$1"
    local error="$2"
    local timestamp=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d %T")
    
    # Log the error
    echo "[$timestamp] Error in command: $command" >> "$LOG_FILE"
    echo "[$timestamp] Error message: $error" >> "$LOG_FILE"
    echo >> "$LOG_FILE"  # Add a newline
    
    # Additional error handling logic
    exit 1
}

# Set the error handler function
trap 'handle_error "$BASH_COMMAND" "$?"' ERR

# Command 1
command1 2>> "$LOG_FILE"

# Command 2
command2 2>> "$LOG_FILE"

# Command 3
command3 2>> "$LOG_FILE"

Understanding Exit Codes in Bash Script Errors

When a command fails in a bash script, it sets its exit code to a non-zero value to indicate the failure. This exit code can then be used to determine the success or failure of the command and take appropriate actions based on the result.

To access the exit code of the last executed command in a bash script, you can use the special variable $?. This variable contains the exit code of the previous command, allowing you to check its value and perform conditional logic based on the result.

Here’s an example that demonstrates how to use exit codes in bash script errors:

#!/bin/bash

# Command 1
command1

# Check the exit code of command1
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "Command 1 succeeded"
else
    echo "Command 1 failed"
fi

# Command 2
command2

# Check the exit code of command2
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "Command 2 succeeded"
else
    echo "Command 2 failed"
fi

In this example, the exit code of command1 is checked using the $? variable. If the exit code is 0, it means that command1 succeeded and the corresponding message is displayed. Otherwise, if the exit code is non-zero, it means that command1 failed and the corresponding message is displayed.

Similarly, the exit code of command2 is checked and the corresponding message is displayed based on the result.

Bash Script Error Handling: Real-Life Examples

To illustrate the concepts and techniques discussed in this article, let’s take a look at some real-life examples of bash script error handling.

Example 1: Handling File Not Found Error

#!/bin/bash

# Function to handle file not found error
handle_file_not_found() {
    local file="$1"
    
    # Display error message
    echo "File not found: $file"
    
    # Additional error handling logic
    exit 1
}

# Set the error handler function
trap 'handle_file_not_found "$BASH_COMMAND"' ERR

# Check if file exists
if [ -f "myfile.txt" ]; then
    echo "File exists"
else
    # File not found, raise an error
    echo "File not found: myfile.txt"
    exit 1
fi

Example 2: Recovering from Command Failure

#!/bin/bash

# Function to handle command failure
handle_command_failure() {
    local command="$1"
    
    # Display error message
    echo "Command failed: $command"
    
    # Additional error handling logic
    exit 1
}

# Set the error handler function
trap 'handle_command_failure "$BASH_COMMAND"' ERR

# Command 1
ls /nonexistent

# Command 2
echo "This command will not be executed"

Try-Catch in Bash Scripts: Best Practices and Use Cases

Implementing try-catch in bash scripts can provide a structured way to handle errors and perform error recovery actions. It allows you to separate the code that may raise an error (the try block) from the error handling logic (the catch block), making the code more maintainable and readable.

Here are some best practices and use cases for implementing try-catch in bash scripts:

1. Define an error handling function: Before the try block, define a function that will handle errors raised in the try block. This function should accept the command that failed ($BASH_COMMAND) and the error code ($?) as arguments.

#!/bin/bash

# Function to handle errors
handle_error() {
    local command="$1"
    local error="$2"
    
    # Error handling logic
    echo "An error occurred in command: $command"
    echo "Error message: $error"
    
    # Additional error handling logic
    exit 1
}

# Set the error handler function
trap 'handle_error "$BASH_COMMAND" "$?"' ERR

2. Wrap the try block in a function: Enclose the code that may raise an error in a function. This function represents the try block. By using a function, you can easily execute the try block and catch any errors that occur.

#!/bin/bash

# Function to handle errors
handle_error() {
    local command="$1"
    local error="$2"
    
    # Error handling logic
    echo "An error occurred in command: $command"
    echo "Error message: $error"
    
    # Additional error handling logic
    exit 1
}

# Set the error handler function
trap 'handle_error "$BASH_COMMAND" "$?"' ERR

# Try block
try() {
    # Command 1
    command1

    # Command 2
    command2

    # Command 3
    command3
}

# Catch block
catch() {
    # Error handling logic
    echo "Error occurred: $?"
}

# Execute the try block
try

3. Execute the try block: Call the function representing the try block to execute the code that may raise an error. If an error occurs, the error handling function defined in the catch block will be executed.

4. Perform error recovery actions: Inside the error handling function, perform any necessary error recovery actions, such as displaying an error message, logging the error, or executing fallback commands.

Logging Errors in Bash Scripts: Tips and Tricks

Here are some tips and tricks for logging errors in bash scripts:

1. Use a log file: Redirect the error output (stderr) to a log file using the 2> operator. This will capture any error messages produced by commands and write them to the specified log file.

#!/bin/bash

# Log file
LOG_FILE="error.log"

# Command 1
command1 2>> "$LOG_FILE"

# Command 2
command2 2>> "$LOG_FILE"

# Command 3
command3 2>> "$LOG_FILE"

2. Include timestamps: Add timestamps to the log entries to provide a time reference for each error. This can be useful for tracking the sequence of errors and determining when they occurred.

#!/bin/bash

# Log file
LOG_FILE="error.log"

# Function to log errors
log_error() {
    local error="$1"
    local timestamp=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d %T")
    
    # Log the error with timestamp
    echo "[$timestamp] Error: $error" >> "$LOG_FILE"
}

# Command 1
command1 2>> "$LOG_FILE" || log_error "Command 1 failed"

# Command 2
command2 2>> "$LOG_FILE" || log_error "Command 2 failed"

# Command 3
command3 2>> "$LOG_FILE" || log_error "Command 3 failed"

In this example, the log_error function is defined to log errors. Inside the function, the error message and the current timestamp are passed as arguments. The function then appends the error message to the log file along with the timestamp.

3. Use different log levels: Consider using different log levels to categorize errors based on their severity. For example, you can use “INFO” for informational messages, “WARN” for warnings, and “ERROR” for critical errors. This can help prioritize and filter errors when analyzing the log file.

#!/bin/bash

# Log file
LOG_FILE="error.log"

# Function to log errors
log_info() {
    local message="$1"
    local timestamp=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d %T")
    
    # Log the message with timestamp and log level
    echo "[$timestamp] [INFO] $message" >> "$LOG_FILE"
}

# Function to log warnings
log_warn() {
    local message="$1"
    local timestamp=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d %T")
    
    # Log the message with timestamp and log level
    echo "[$timestamp] [WARN] $message" >> "$LOG_FILE"
}

# Function to log errors
log_error() {
    local message="$1"
    local timestamp=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d %T")
    
    # Log the message with timestamp and log level
    echo "[$timestamp] [ERROR] $message" >> "$LOG_FILE"
}

# Command 1
command1 2>> "$LOG_FILE" || log_error "Command 1 failed"

# Command 2
command2 2>> "$LOG_FILE" || log_warn "Command 2 failed"

# Command 3
command3 2>> "$LOG_FILE" || log_info "Command 3 failed"

In this example, three functions are defined to log errors, warnings, and informational messages. Each function takes a message as an argument and appends it to the log file along with the timestamp and the corresponding log level.

Additional Resources

– Bash error handling – Set command
– Bash error handling – Error handling in functions
– Bash error handling – Error handling in loops