# define some variables for later date=`date` usr=`whoami` # define usage function to echo syntax if no args given usage(){ echo "error: filename not specified" echo "Usage: $0 filename directory/ directory/ directory/" exit 1 } # define copyall function copyall() { # local variable to take the first argument as file local file="$1" dir # shift to the next argument(s) shift # loop through the next argument(s) and copy $file to them for dir in "$@"; do cp -R "$file" "$dir" done } # function to check if filename exists # $f -> store argument passed to the script file_exists(){ local f="$1" [[ -f "$f" ]] && return 0 || return 1 } # call usage() function to print out syntax [[ $# -eq 0 ]] && usage here's what I can't figure out
# call file_exists() and copyall() to do the dirty work if ( file_exists "$1" ) then copyall I would also love to figure out how to take this next echo section and condense it to one line. Instead of $1 then shift then move on. Maybe split it into an array?
echo "copyall: File $1 was copied to" shift echo "$@ on $date by $usr" else echo "Filename not found" fi exit 0 
&& return 0 || return 1; having the last line of the function simply be[[ -f "$f" ]]will cause 0 to be returned if the file exists and 1 if it doesn't.