[groovy] How do I get the output of a shell command executed using into a variable from Jenkinsfile (groovy)?

I have something like this on a Jenkinsfile (Groovy) and I want to record the stdout and the exit code in a variable in order to use the information later.

sh "ls -l"

How can I do this, especially as it seems that you cannot really run any kind of groovy code inside the Jenkinsfile?

Easiest way is use this way

my_var=`echo 2` echo $my_var output : 2

note that is not simple single quote is back quote ( ` ).

If you want to get the stdout AND know whether the command succeeded or not, just use returnStdout and wrap it in an exception handler:

scripted pipeline

try {
    // Fails with non-zero exit if dir1 does not exist
    def dir1 = sh(script:'ls -la dir1', returnStdout:true).trim()
} catch (Exception ex) {
    println("Unable to read dir1: ${ex}")
}

output:

[Pipeline] sh
[Test-Pipeline] Running shell script
+ ls -la dir1
ls: cannot access dir1: No such file or directory
[Pipeline] echo
unable to read dir1: hudson.AbortException: script returned exit code 2

Unfortunately hudson.AbortException is missing any useful method to obtain that exit status, so if the actual value is required you'd need to parse it out of the message (ugh!)

Contrary to the Javadoc https://javadoc.jenkins-ci.org/hudson/AbortException.html the build is not failed when this exception is caught. It fails when it's not caught!

Update: If you also want the STDERR output from the shell command, Jenkins unfortunately fails to properly support that common use-case. A 2017 ticket JENKINS-44930 is stuck in a state of opinionated ping-pong whilst making no progress towards a solution - please consider adding your upvote to it.

As to a solution now, there could be a couple of possible approaches:

a) Redirect STDERR to STDOUT 2>&1 - but it's then up to you to parse that out of the main output though, and you won't get the output if the command failed - because you're in the exception handler.

b) redirect STDERR to a temporary file (the name of which you prepare earlier) 2>filename (but remember to clean up the file afterwards) - ie. main code becomes:

def stderrfile = 'stderr.out'
try {
    def dir1 = sh(script:"ls -la dir1 2>${stderrfile}", returnStdout:true).trim()
} catch (Exception ex) {
    def errmsg = readFile(stderrfile)
    println("Unable to read dir1: ${ex} - ${errmsg}")
}

c) Go the other way, set returnStatus=true instead, dispense with the exception handler and always capture output to a file, ie:

def outfile = 'stdout.out'
def status = sh(script:"ls -la dir1 >${outfile} 2>&1", returnStatus:true)
def output = readFile(outfile).trim()
if (status == 0) {
    // output is directory listing from stdout
} else {
    // output is error message from stderr
}

Caveat: the above code is Unix/Linux-specific - Windows requires completely different shell commands.

All the above method will work. but to use the var as env variable inside your code you need to export the var first.

script{
  sh " 'shell command here' > command"
  command_var = readFile('command').trim()
  sh "export command_var=$command_var"
}

replace the shell command with the command of your choice. Now if you are using python code you can just specify os.getenv("command_var") that will return the output of the shell command executed previously.

quick answer is this:

sh "ls -l > commandResult"
result = readFile('commandResult').trim()

I think there exist a feature request to be able to get the result of sh step, but as far as I know, currently there is no other option.

EDIT: JENKINS-26133

EDIT2: Not quite sure since what version, but sh/bat steps now can return the std output, simply:

def output = sh returnStdout: true, script: 'ls -l'

For those who need to use the output in subsequent shell commands, rather than groovy, something like this example could be done:

    stage('Show Files') {
        environment {
          MY_FILES = sh(script: 'cd mydir && ls -l', returnStdout: true)
        }
        steps {
          sh '''
            echo "$MY_FILES"
          '''
        }
    }

I found the examples on code maven to be quite useful.

this is a sample case, which will make sense I believe!

node('master'){
    stage('stage1'){
    def commit = sh (returnStdout: true, script: '''echo hi
    echo bye | grep -o "e"
    date
    echo lol''').split()


    echo "${commit[-1]} "

    }
}

Current Pipeline version natively supports returnStdout and returnStatus, which make it possible to get output or status from sh/bat steps.

An example:

def ret = sh(script: 'uname', returnStdout: true)
println ret

An official documentation.

How to read the shell variable in groovy / how to assign shell return value to groovy variable.

Requirement : Open a text file read the lines using shell and store the value in groovy and get the parameter for each line .

Here , is delimiter

Ex: releaseModule.txt

./APP_TSBASE/app/team/i-home/deployments/ip-cc.war/cs_workflowReport.jar,configurable-wf-report,94,23crb1,artifact



./APP_TSBASE/app/team/i-home/deployments/ip.war/cs_workflowReport.jar,configurable-temppweb-report,394,rvu3crb1,artifact

========================

Here want to get module name 2nd Parameter (configurable-wf-report) , build no 3rd Parameter (94), commit id 4th (23crb1)

def  module = sh(script: """awk -F',' '{ print \$2 "," \$3 "," \$4 }' releaseModules.txt  | sort -u """, returnStdout: true).trim()

echo module

List lines = module.split( '\n' ).findAll { !it.startsWith( ',' ) }

def buildid

def Modname

lines.each {

List det1 =  it.split(',')

buildid=det1[1].trim() 

Modname = det1[0].trim()

tag= det1[2].trim()

               

echo Modname               

echo buildid

                echo tag

                        

}