Options are settings that change shell and/or script behavior.
The set command enables options within a script. At the point in the script where you want the options to take effect, use set -o option-name or, in short form, set -option-abbrev. These two forms are equivalent.
#!/bin/bash
set -o verbose
# Echoes all commands before executing.
#!/bin/bash
set -v
# Exact same effect as above.
To disable an option within a script, use set +o option-name or set +option-abbrev.
#!/bin/bash
set -o verbose
# Command echoing on.
command
...
command
set +o verbose
# Command echoing off.
command
# Not echoed.
set -v
# Command echoing on.
command
...
command
set +v
# Command echoing off.
command
exit 0
An alternate method of enabling options in a script is
to specify them immediately following the
#! script header.
#!/bin/bash -x
#
# Body of script follows.
It is also possible to enable script options from the command
line. Some options that will not work with
set are available this way. Among these
are -i, force script to run
interactive.
bash -v script-name
bash -o verbose script-name
The following is a listing of some useful options. They may be
specified in either abbreviated form (preceded by a single dash)
or by complete name (preceded by a double
dash or by -o).
Table 33.1. Bash options
| Abbreviation | Name | Effect |
|---|---|---|
-B | brace expansion | Enable brace expansion (default setting = on) |
+B | brace expansion | Disable brace expansion |
-C | noclobber | Prevent overwriting of files by redirection (may be overridden by >|) |
-D | (none) | List double-quoted strings prefixed by $, but do not execute commands in script |
-a | allexport | Export all defined variables |
-b | notify | Notify when jobs running in background terminate (not of much use in a script) |
-c ... | (none) | Read commands from ... |
checkjobs | Informs user of any open jobs upon shell exit. Introduced in version 4 of Bash, and still “experimental.” Usage: shopt -s checkjobs (Caution: may hang!) | |
-e | errexit | Abort script at first error, when a command exits with non-zero status (except in until or while loops, if-tests, list constructs) |
-f | noglob | Filename expansion (globbing) disabled |
globstar | globbing star-match | Enables the ** globbing operator (version 4+ of Bash). Usage: shopt -s globstar |
-i | interactive | Script runs in interactive mode |
-n | noexec | Read commands in script, but do not execute them (syntax check) |
-o Option-Name | (none) | Invoke the Option-Name option |
-o posix | POSIX | Change the behavior of Bash, or invoked script, to conform to POSIX standard. |
-o pipefail | pipe failure | Causes a pipeline to return the exit status of the last command in the pipe that returned a non-zero return value. |
-p | privileged | Script runs as “suid” (caution!) |
-r | restricted | Script runs in restricted mode (see Chapter 22, Restricted Shells). |
-s | stdin | Read commands from stdin |
-t | (none) | Exit after first command |
-u | nounset | Attempt to use undefined variable outputs error message, and forces an exit |
-v | verbose | Print each command to stdout before executing it |
-x | xtrace | Similar to -v, but expands commands |
- | (none) | End of options flag. All other arguments are positional parameters. |
-- | (none) | Unset positional parameters.
If arguments given (-- arg1 arg2),
positional parameters set to arguments. |