in Bash you can set -x to enable debugging, is there any way to know if that has been set or not from within the script?

Question

When making complex bash scripts, I will often use the command:

set -x

to enable me to debug the script if it is not behaving.

However I have some UI functions that generate a LOT of garbage in debug mode, so I would like to wrap them in a conditional along the lines of:

ui~title(){
    DEBUG_MODE=0
    if [ set -x is enabled ] # this is the bit I don't know how to do
    then
        # disable debugging mode for this function as it is not required and generates a lot of noise
        set +x
        DEBUG_MODE=1
    fi

    # my UI code goes here

    if [ "1" == "$DEBUG_MODE" ]
    then
        # re enable debugging mode here
        set -x
    fi
}

The problem is that I can't figure out how to know if debug mode is enabled or not.

I'm assuming it is possible, I just can't seem to find it despite lots of searching.

Thanks in advance for any tips

Answer 1

Use the following:

if [[ "$-" == *x* ]]; then
  echo "is set"
else
  echo "is not set"
fi

From 3.2.5. Special parameters:

A hyphen expands to the current option flags as specified upon invocation, by the set built-in command, or those set by the shell itself (such as the -i).

Answer 2

$ [ -o xtrace ] ; echo $?
1
$ set -x
++ ...
$ [ -o xtrace ] ; echo $?
+ '[' -o xtrace ']'
+ echo 0
0