CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bash
Satyam Singh
Satyam Singh

Reputation: 3

How to make --version custom command in linux

So, I just started to introduce myself with custom commands in Linux and created one but now I want it to be executed globally like this, say my command is owncmd:

#!/bin/bash 
echo "Heya custom commands"

This works perfectly fine when I execute $ owncmd but I wanted to write the version or help page like :
$ owncmd --version or $ owncmd --help

Upvotes: 0

Views: 797

Answers (2)

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Reputation: 193

You should make a CLI (Command Line Interface). To do this, you should parse the command line arguments, like --help and --version. You can access them with $1, $2, ...

Here is an example on your code :

#!/bin/bash

cli_help() {
    # --help: Shows help message
    echo "
owncmd - Custom command

Usage:
    owncmd [options]

Options:
    --help / -h: Show this message and exit.
    --version / -V: Show version number and exit.
"
    exit
}

cli_version() {
    # --version: Show version
    echo "owncmd v1.0"
    exit
}

# Argument
case $1 in
    "--help"|"-h")
        cli_help
        ;;
    "--version"|"-V")
        cli_version
        ;;
esac
# Main program
echo "Heya custom commands"

The program look at the first argument $1.

  • If it is --help or -h: Show an help message (function cli_help) and exit
  • If it is --version or -V: Show version number (function cli_version) and exit

ℹ️ Note: We use -V instead of -v because -v means "verbose mode", not "version".

If there is no --help or --version, the program shows Heya custom commands.

Upvotes: 1

user18098820
user18098820

Reputation:

You could check the input $1 to see whether it is -v or --version in which case you print the version and stop without executing the actual code. Idem for -h or --help.

Upvotes: 1

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