Shell options (set -e, set -x) in Linux CLI - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Using Shell Options: set -e and set -x

📖 Scenario: You are writing a small shell script to automate a simple task on your computer. You want to make sure the script stops if any command fails and also want to see each command printed as it runs to understand what is happening.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to use the shell options set -e to stop the script on errors and set -x to print commands as they run.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a shell script with a few commands

Add set -e to stop on errors

Add set -x to print commands as they run

Observe the script behavior with these options

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Shell scripts often automate tasks on computers. Using <code>set -e</code> helps avoid continuing after errors, and <code>set -x</code> helps see what the script is doing step-by-step.

💼 Career

Many IT, DevOps, and developer jobs require writing and debugging shell scripts. Knowing these options helps write safer and easier-to-debug scripts.

1

Create a simple shell script with commands

Create a shell script called script.sh with these exact commands in order: echo "Start script", ls /tmp, and echo "End script".

Linux CLI

# Create a shell script with echo and ls commands
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Write each command on its own line exactly as shown.

2

Add set -e to stop script on errors

Add the line set -e at the top of script.sh to make the script stop if any command fails.

Linux CLI

set -e

echo "Start script"
ls /tmp
echo "End script"
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Place set -e as the very first line in the script.

3

Add set -x to print commands as they run

Add the line set -x immediately after set -e in script.sh to print each command before it runs.

Linux CLI

set -e
set -x

echo "Start script"
ls /tmp
echo "End script"
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Put set -x right after set -e at the top.

4

Run the script and observe the output

Run bash script.sh in the terminal and observe that each command is printed before it runs and the script stops if a command fails.

Linux CLI

# Run the script in terminal and observe output
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use bash script.sh to run the script and watch the commands printed with a plus sign (+) before each.