new_function is a program that creates shell function templates. Designed to be used in conjunction with the new_script template generation program, this program rapidly creates shell functions in your scripts.
This can be used as a stand alone program, but is best suited for use with a text editor that can support its output. Instructions for integrating new_function with the Nedit text editor appear below.
new_function is invoked as follows:
new_function [ -h | --help ] [-f file]
Options:
-h, --help Display help message and exit
-f file Output is written to file. If omitted, output is written to standard output. Since the interactive prompting is also written to standard output, the -f option is required for file output.
After invoking new_function, the user will be prompted as follows:
Name of function:
Answer with the function's name. This must be a single word that is an valid command name.
Description of function:
Answer with a one line description of the function's purpose.
Does this function have arguments? [y/n]:
Answer y or n. If you answer "y" then you will be prompted for the following:
Description of argument 1:
Enter a one line description of the first argument.
Is argument 1 optional? [y/n]:
Answer y or n. If an argument is required (i.e. not optional), code will be inserted into the function to check for its presence when the function is called. If the function supports multiple arguments, no required arguments are possible after the first optional argument.
new_function -f my_function
Prompts the user for function information and writes the finished template to the file "my_function". Once written, the file "my_function" can be inserted into a script file.
Installing the new_function script into the /usr/local/bin directory can be performed with the following series of commands:
$ cd new_script-2.1.0
$ su
# cp new_function /usr/local/bin
# chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/new_function
# exit
You can integrate the new_function program into the Nedit text editor. Once installed into the "Shell" menu, you can directly add shell functions to your scripts in the edit buffer of Nedit. If you don't yet have Nedit, you can get it at http://www.nedit.org.
To add new_function to the shell menu in Nedit, go to the Preferences/Default Settings/Customize Menus/Shell Menu... dialog and create a new menu entry called "new_function". Set command input to "none" and command output to "same window". Finally, set the "shell command to execute" to the following command line:
xterm -e new_function -i -f /tmp/tmp_funct; cat /tmp/tmp_funct; rm /tmp/tmp_funct
new_function has been tested on Redhat Linux versions 5.x, 6.x and 7.x. new_function is a rather generic script and will probably work on all contemporary Linux distributions equipped with the bash shell.
Copyright 1999-2002, William Shotts, Jr. <bshotts@users.sourceforge.net>
This software is part of the LinuxCommand.org project, a site for Linux education and advocacy devoted to helping users of legacy operating systems migrate into the future.
You may contact the LinuxCommand.org project at:
http://www.linuxcommand.org
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
$Id: new_function.README,v 1.3 2002/02/11 00:18:15 bshotts Exp $