A return value of the previously executed process.
10.4 Getting the return value of a program
In bash, the return value of a program is stored in a special variable called $?.
This illustrates how to capture the return value of a program, I assume that the directory dada does not exist. (This was also suggested by mike)
#!/bin/bash cd /dada &> /dev/null echo rv: $? cd $(pwd) &> /dev/null echo rv: $?
See Bash Programming Manual for more details.
The exit code of the last command ran.
It is the returned error code of the last executed command. 0 = success
It is well suited for debugging in case your script exit if set -e
is used. For example, put echo $?
after the command that cause it to exit and see the returned error value.
That is the exit status of the last executed function/program/command. Refer to:
$? is the result (exit code) of the last executed command.
Minimal POSIX C exit status example
To understand $?
, you must first understand the concept of process exit status which is defined by POSIX. In Linux:
when a process calls the exit
system call, the kernel stores the value passed to the system call (an int
) even after the process dies.
The exit system call is called by the exit()
ANSI C function, and indirectly when you do return
from main
.
the process that called the exiting child process (Bash), often with fork
+ exec
, can retrieve the exit status of the child with the wait
system call
Consider the Bash code:
$ false
$ echo $?
1
The C "equivalent" is:
false.c
#include <stdlib.h> /* exit */
int main(void) {
exit(1);
}
bash.c
#include <unistd.h> /* execl */
#include <stdlib.h> /* fork */
#include <sys/wait.h> /* wait, WEXITSTATUS */
#include <stdio.h> /* printf */
int main(void) {
if (fork() == 0) {
/* Call false. */
execl("./false", "./false", (char *)NULL);
}
int status;
/* Wait for a child to finish. */
wait(&status);
/* Status encodes multiple fields,
* we need WEXITSTATUS to get the exit status:
* http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3659616/returning-exit-code-from-child
**/
printf("$? = %d\n", WEXITSTATUS(status));
}
Compile and run:
g++ -ggdb3 -O0 -std=c++11 -Wall -Wextra -pedantic -o bash bash.c
g++ -ggdb3 -O0 -std=c++11 -Wall -Wextra -pedantic -o false false.c
./bash
Output:
$? = 1
In Bash, when you hit enter, a fork + exec + wait happens like above, and bash then sets $?
to the exit status of the forked process.
Note: for built-in commands like echo
, a process need not be spawned, and Bash just sets $?
to 0 to simulate an external process.
Standards and documentation
POSIX 7 2.5.2 "Special Parameters" http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/V3_chap02.html#tag_18_05_02 :
? Expands to the decimal exit status of the most recent pipeline (see Pipelines).
man bash
"Special Parameters":
The shell treats several parameters specially. These parameters may only be referenced; assignment to them is not allowed. [...]
? Expands to the exit status of the most recently executed foreground pipeline.
ANSI C and POSIX then recommend that:
0
means the program was successful
other values: the program failed somehow.
The exact value could indicate the type of failure.
ANSI C does not define the meaning of any vaues, and POSIX specifies values larger than 125: What is the meaning of "POSIX"?
Bash uses exit status for if
In Bash, we often use the exit status $?
implicitly to control if
statements as in:
if true; then
:
fi
where true
is a program that just returns 0.
The above is equivalent to:
true
result=$?
if [ $result = 0 ]; then
:
fi
And in:
if [ 1 = 1 ]; then
:
fi
[
is just an program with a weird name (and Bash built-in that behaves like it), and 1 = 1 ]
its arguments, see also: Difference between single and double square brackets in Bash
$?
is the exit status of a command, such that you can daisy-chain a series of commands.
Example
command1 && command2 && command3
command2
will run if command1's
$?
yields a success (0)
and command3
will execute if $?
of command2
will yield a success
Source: Stackoverflow.com