Interactively debug a sh script

My common (ba)sh script setup is a bit like this:

# By default, in a pipeline of commands, the exit status of the pipeline is determined by
# the exit status of the last command in the pipeline. This changes that to fail if any command fails
set -o pipefail 

# stop on exit
set -o errexit 

# trace , print all commands before running.
set -x

Another approach that I just thought of that is useful is to enter an interactive shell should a command fail. eg

may_fail || bash

This is particularly useful when in a loop and subshell:

find "$root_directory" -type d | while read -r dir; do
    { 
      cd "$dir"  
      may_fail || bash # explore current state if this fails.
    }  
done

It allows the loop to pause until you're ready to continue by pressing Ctrl + d, or you can exit entirely using Ctrl + c.

Created 2023-08-16T03:42:37+10:00 · Edit

Interactively debug a sh script

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