Error handling in Bash

Question

Use a trap!

tempfiles=( )
cleanup() {
  rm -f "${tempfiles[@]}"
}
trap cleanup 0

error() {
  local parent_lineno="$1"
  local message="$2"
  local code="${3:-1}"
  if [[ -n "$message" ]] ; then
    echo "Error on or near line ${parent_lineno}: ${message}; exiting with status ${code}"
  else
    echo "Error on or near line ${parent_lineno}; exiting with status ${code}"
  fi
  exit "${code}"
}
trap 'error ${LINENO}' ERR

...then, whenever you create a temporary file:

temp_foo="$(mktemp -t foobar.XXXXXX)"
tempfiles+=( "$temp_foo" )

and $temp_foo will be deleted on exit, and the current line number will be printed. (set -e will likewise give you exit-on-error behavior, though it comes with serious caveats and weakens code's predictability and portability).

You can either let the trap call error for you (in which case it uses the default exit code of 1 and no message) or call it yourself and provide explicit values; for instance:

error ${LINENO} "the foobar failed" 2

will exit with status 2, and give an explicit message.

That's a fine solution. I just wanted to add

set -e

as a rudimentary error mechanism. It will immediately stop your script if a simple command fails. I think this should have been the default behavior: since such errors almost always signify something unexpected, it is not really 'sane' to keep executing the following commands.

Reading all the answers on this page inspired me a lot.

So, here's my hint:

file content: lib.trap.sh

lib_name='trap'
lib_version=20121026

stderr_log="/dev/shm/stderr.log"

#
# TO BE SOURCED ONLY ONCE:
#
###~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~##

if test "${g_libs[$lib_name]+_}"; then
    return 0
else
    if test ${#g_libs[@]} == 0; then
        declare -A g_libs
    fi
    g_libs[$lib_name]=$lib_version
fi


#
# MAIN CODE:
#
###~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~##

set -o pipefail  # trace ERR through pipes
set -o errtrace  # trace ERR through 'time command' and other functions
set -o nounset   ## set -u : exit the script if you try to use an uninitialised variable
set -o errexit   ## set -e : exit the script if any statement returns a non-true return value

exec 2>"$stderr_log"


###~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~##
#
# FUNCTION: EXIT_HANDLER
#
###~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~##

function exit_handler ()
{
    local error_code="$?"

    test $error_code == 0 && return;

    #
    # LOCAL VARIABLES:
    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
    #    
    local i=0
    local regex=''
    local mem=''

    local error_file=''
    local error_lineno=''
    local error_message='unknown'

    local lineno=''


    #
    # PRINT THE HEADER:
    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
    #
    # Color the output if it's an interactive terminal
    test -t 1 && tput bold; tput setf 4                                 ## red bold
    echo -e "\n(!) EXIT HANDLER:\n"


    #
    # GETTING LAST ERROR OCCURRED:
    # ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #

    #
    # Read last file from the error log
    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
    #
    if test -f "$stderr_log"
        then
            stderr=$( tail -n 1 "$stderr_log" )
            rm "$stderr_log"
    fi

    #
    # Managing the line to extract information:
    # ------------------------------------------------------------------
    #

    if test -n "$stderr"
        then        
            # Exploding stderr on :
            mem="$IFS"
            local shrunk_stderr=$( echo "$stderr" | sed 's/\: /\:/g' )
            IFS=':'
            local stderr_parts=( $shrunk_stderr )
            IFS="$mem"

            # Storing information on the error
            error_file="${stderr_parts[0]}"
            error_lineno="${stderr_parts[1]}"
            error_message=""

            for (( i = 3; i <= ${#stderr_parts[@]}; i++ ))
                do
                    error_message="$error_message "${stderr_parts[$i-1]}": "
            done

            # Removing last ':' (colon character)
            error_message="${error_message%:*}"

            # Trim
            error_message="$( echo "$error_message" | sed -e 's/^[ \t]*//' | sed -e 's/[ \t]*$//' )"
    fi

    #
    # GETTING BACKTRACE:
    # ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #
    _backtrace=$( backtrace 2 )


    #
    # MANAGING THE OUTPUT:
    # ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #

    local lineno=""
    regex='^([a-z]{1,}) ([0-9]{1,})$'

    if [[ $error_lineno =~ $regex ]]

        # The error line was found on the log
        # (e.g. type 'ff' without quotes wherever)
        # --------------------------------------------------------------
        then
            local row="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
            lineno="${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"

            echo -e "FILE:\t\t${error_file}"
            echo -e "${row^^}:\t\t${lineno}\n"

            echo -e "ERROR CODE:\t${error_code}"             
            test -t 1 && tput setf 6                                    ## white yellow
            echo -e "ERROR MESSAGE:\n$error_message"


        else
            regex="^${error_file}\$|^${error_file}\s+|\s+${error_file}\s+|\s+${error_file}\$"
            if [[ "$_backtrace" =~ $regex ]]

                # The file was found on the log but not the error line
                # (could not reproduce this case so far)
                # ------------------------------------------------------
                then
                    echo -e "FILE:\t\t$error_file"
                    echo -e "ROW:\t\tunknown\n"

                    echo -e "ERROR CODE:\t${error_code}"
                    test -t 1 && tput setf 6                            ## white yellow
                    echo -e "ERROR MESSAGE:\n${stderr}"

                # Neither the error line nor the error file was found on the log
                # (e.g. type 'cp ffd fdf' without quotes wherever)
                # ------------------------------------------------------
                else
                    #
                    # The error file is the first on backtrace list:

                    # Exploding backtrace on newlines
                    mem=$IFS
                    IFS='
                    '
                    #
                    # Substring: I keep only the carriage return
                    # (others needed only for tabbing purpose)
                    IFS=${IFS:0:1}
                    local lines=( $_backtrace )

                    IFS=$mem

                    error_file=""

                    if test -n "${lines[1]}"
                        then
                            array=( ${lines[1]} )

                            for (( i=2; i<${#array[@]}; i++ ))
                                do
                                    error_file="$error_file ${array[$i]}"
                            done

                            # Trim
                            error_file="$( echo "$error_file" | sed -e 's/^[ \t]*//' | sed -e 's/[ \t]*$//' )"
                    fi

                    echo -e "FILE:\t\t$error_file"
                    echo -e "ROW:\t\tunknown\n"

                    echo -e "ERROR CODE:\t${error_code}"
                    test -t 1 && tput setf 6                            ## white yellow
                    if test -n "${stderr}"
                        then
                            echo -e "ERROR MESSAGE:\n${stderr}"
                        else
                            echo -e "ERROR MESSAGE:\n${error_message}"
                    fi
            fi
    fi

    #
    # PRINTING THE BACKTRACE:
    # ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #

    test -t 1 && tput setf 7                                            ## white bold
    echo -e "\n$_backtrace\n"

    #
    # EXITING:
    # ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ #

    test -t 1 && tput setf 4                                            ## red bold
    echo "Exiting!"

    test -t 1 && tput sgr0 # Reset terminal

    exit "$error_code"
}
trap exit_handler EXIT                                                  # ! ! ! TRAP EXIT ! ! !
trap exit ERR                                                           # ! ! ! TRAP ERR ! ! !


###~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~##
#
# FUNCTION: BACKTRACE
#
###~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~##

function backtrace
{
    local _start_from_=0

    local params=( "$@" )
    if (( "${#params[@]}" >= "1" ))
        then
            _start_from_="$1"
    fi

    local i=0
    local first=false
    while caller $i > /dev/null
    do
        if test -n "$_start_from_" && (( "$i" + 1   >= "$_start_from_" ))
            then
                if test "$first" == false
                    then
                        echo "BACKTRACE IS:"
                        first=true
                fi
                caller $i
        fi
        let "i=i+1"
    done
}

return 0

Example of usage:
file content: trap-test.sh

#!/bin/bash

source 'lib.trap.sh'

echo "doing something wrong now .."
echo "$foo"

exit 0

Running:

bash trap-test.sh

Output:

doing something wrong now ..

(!) EXIT HANDLER:

FILE:       trap-test.sh
LINE:       6

ERROR CODE: 1
ERROR MESSAGE:
foo:   unassigned variable

BACKTRACE IS:
1 main trap-test.sh

Exiting!

As you can see from the screenshot below, the output is colored and the error message comes in the used language.

An equivalent alternative to "set -e" is

set -o errexit

It makes the meaning of the flag somewhat clearer than just "-e".

Random addition: to temporarily disable the flag, and return to the default (of continuing execution regardless of exit codes), just use

set +e
echo "commands run here returning non-zero exit codes will not cause the entire script to fail"
echo "false returns 1 as an exit code"
false
set -e

This precludes proper error handling mentioned in other responses, but is quick & effective (just like bash).