Function

The syntax for declaring a bash function is very simple. They may be declared in two different formats:

The first format starts with the function name, followed by parentheses. This is the preferred and more used format.

function_name () {
  commands
}

Single line version:

function_name () { commands; }

deploy_acc {

    # Some comment
    <do stuff>
}

Call function

`deploy_acc`

The second format starts with the function reserved word followed by the function name.

function function_name {
  commands
}

function document() {

}

Single line version:

function function_name { commands; }

Few points to be noted:

The command list between curly braces {} is the body of the function. The curly braces that surround the function body must be separated from the body by spaces or newlines.
Defining a function doesn’t execute it. To invoke a bash function, simply use the function name. Commands between the curly braces are executed whenever the function is called in the shell script.
The function definition must be placed before any calls to the function.
When using single line “compacted” functions, a semicolon ; must follow the last command in the function.
You should always try to keep your function names descriptive

Variables Scope

Global variables are variables that can be accessed from anywhere in the script regardless of the scope. In Bash, all variables by default are defined as global, even if declared inside the function.

Local variables can be declared within the function body with the local keyword and can be used only inside that function. You can have local variables with the same name in different functions.

To better illustrate how variables scope works in Bash, let’s consider an example: ~/variables_scope.sh

#!/bin/bash

var1='A'
var2='B'

my_function () {
  local var1='C'
  var2='D'
  echo "Inside function: var1: $var1, var2: $var2"
}

echo "Before executing function: var1: $var1, var2: $var2"

my_function

echo "After executing function: var1: $var1, var2: $var2"

The script starts by defining two global variables var1 and var2.
Then a function that sets a local variable var1 and modifies the global variable var2.

If you run the script, you should see the following output:

Before executing function: var1: A, var2: B
Inside function: var1: C, var2: D
After executing function: var1: A, var2: D

From the output above, we can conclude that:

• If you set a local variable inside the function body with the same name as an existing global variable, it will have precedence over the global variable.
• Global variables can be changed from within the function.

Return Values

Unlike functions in “real” programming languages, Bash functions don’t allow you to return a value when called.
When a bash function completes, its return value is the status of the last statement executed in the function, 0 for success and non-zero decimal number in the 1 - 255 range for failure.

The return status can be specified by using the return keyword, and it is assigned to the variable $?. The return statement terminates the function. You can think of it as the function’s exit status.

~/return_values.sh

#!/bin/bash

my_function () {
  echo "some result"
  return 55
}

my_function
echo $?

some result
55

To actually return an arbitrary value from a function, we need to use other methods. The simplest option is to assign the result of the function to a global variable: ~/return_values.sh

#!/bin/bash

my_function () {
  func_result="some result"
}

my_function
echo $func_result

some result

Another, better option to return a value from a function is to send the value to stdout using echo or printf like shown below: ~/return_values.sh

#!/bin/bash

my_function () {
  local func_result="some result"
  echo "$func_result"
}

func_result="$(my_function)"
echo $func_result

some result

Instead of simply executing the function which will print the message to stdout, we are assigning the function output to the func_result variable using the $() command substitution.
The variable can later be used as needed.

Passing Arguments to Bash Functions

To pass any number of arguments to the bash function simply put them right after the function’s name, separated by a space. It is a good practice to double-quote the arguments to avoid misparsing of an argument with spaces in it.

• The passed parameters are $1, $2, $3 … $n, corresponding to the position of the parameter after the function’s name.
• The $0 variable is reserved for the function’s name.
• The $# variable holds the number of positional parameters/arguments passed to the function.
• The $* and $@ variables holds all positional parameters/arguments passed to the function.
  • When double quoted, “$*” expands to a single string separated by space (the first character of IFS) - “$1 $2 $n”.
  • When double quoted, “$@” expands to separate strings - “$1” “$2” “$n”.
  • When not double quoted, $* and $@ are the same.

Here is an example: ~/passing_arguments.sh

#!/bin/bash

greeting () {
  echo "Hello $1"
}

greeting "Joe"

Hello Joe

Source: https://linuxize.com/post/bash-functions/