bash-hackers-wiki/original_source/commands/builtin/exec.txt
2023-07-04 00:11:36 +02:00

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====== The exec builtin command ======
===== Synopsis =====
<code>exec [-a NAME] [-cl] [COMMAND] [ARG...] [REDIRECTION...]</code>
===== Description =====
The ''exec'' builtin command is used to
* **replace** the shell with a given program (executing it, **not as new process**)
* set redirections for the program to execute or for the current shell
If only redirections are given, the redirections affect the current shell without executing any program.
==== Options ====
^Option^Description^
|''-a NAME'' |Passes ''NAME'' as zeroth argument for the program to be executed |
|''-c'' |Execute the program with an empty (cleared) environment |
|''-l'' |Prepends a dash (''-'') to the zeroth argument of the program to be executed, similar to what the ''login'' program does |
==== Exit status ====
* on redirection errors it returns 1, otherwise 0
* on exec failures:
* a non-interactive shell terminates; if the [[internals:shell_options#execfail | shell option execfail]] is set ''exec'' returns failure
* in an interactive shell, ''exec'' returns failure
===== Examples =====
==== Wrapper around a program ====
<code bash>
myprog=/bin/ls
echo "This is the wrapper script, it will exec $myprog"
# do some vodoo here, probably change the arguments etc.
# well, stuff a wrapper is there for
exec "$myprog" "$@"
</code>
==== Open a file as input for the script ====
<code bash>
# open it
exec 3< input.txt
# for example: read one line from the file(-descriptor)
read -u 3 LINE
# or
read LINE <&3
# finally, close it
exec 3<&-
</code>
==== Overall script logfile ====
To redirect the whole ''stdout'' and ''stderr'' of the shell or shellscript to a file, you can use the ''exec'' builtin command:
<code bash>
exec >/var/adm/my.log 2>&1
# script continues here...
</code>
===== Portability considerations =====
*POSIX(r) specifies error code ranges:
* if ''exec'' can't find the program to execute, the error code shall be 126
* on a redirection error, the error code shall be between 1 and 125
* the ''-a NAME'' option appeared in Bash 4.2-alpha
* POSIX(r) does **not** specify any options for ''exec'' (like ''-c'', ''-l'', ''-a NAME'').
===== See also =====
* [[syntax:redirection]]