Bash - Show help function template

When users execute an invalid command option on your Bash script, it is useful to show users the help informations. Below is a template that you can use to show the helf informations.

show_help() {
cat << EOF
Usage: ${0##*/} [-hv] [-f OUTFILE] [FILE]...
Do stuff with FILE and write the result to standard output. With no FILE
or when FILE is -, read standard input.
 
  -h          display this help and exit
  -f OUTFILE  write the result to OUTFILE instead of standard output.
  -v          verbose mode. Can be used multiple times for increased
              verbosity.
EOF
}

Bash

About the author

Xuan Ngo is the founder of OpenWritings.net. He currently lives in Montreal, Canada. He loves to write about programming and open source subjects.