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I have this:

delete_lock(){ first_arg=$1 } node x.js | delete_lock $0 < ${my_named_pipe} &

I am looking to read from my_named_pipe into the stdin of the node.js process, and upon certain input, then write to stdout in the node.js process which would then be captured by delete_lock.

My main question is, how can I reference stdin in delete_lock in bash? I don't think it's $0, how can I do it?

Is this the only way to do it?

node x.js | { while read line; delete_lock $line; } < ${my_named_pipe} &
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You say you need the Node application to read from the pipe, then let's do that:

node x.js <"$my_named_pipe"

Then you say you want the function to read the output from that, then let's do that too:

node x.js <"$my_named_pipe" | delete_lock

Note that | is a command terminator, which means that in

command1 | command2 <thing

it's command2 that reads from thing.

Responding to comments:

The delete_lock function can read its standard input, which comes from the Node application. If it, for example, has to do some action depending on a pattern in the output from the Node application, it may want to use grep:

delete_lock () { if grep -q 'PATTERN'; then # some command here fi }

If you need the Node application to keep going after the action has been performed by the function, then you need to continue consuming its output:

delete_lock () { if grep -q 'PATTERN'; then # some command here fi cat >/dev/null }

Otherwise, the Node application will receive a SIGPIPE signal and terminate.

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  • thanks, do you have thoughts on alternative to using read to get a var representing stdin? Commented Apr 20, 2018 at 8:52
  • @AlexanderMills I don't really see a use for that. delete_lock can parse the output of the Node application in any way it wants. If it wants to act on certain input, then use grep -q (for example) on the input stream. Basically, I can't say much about this because you have not described what delete_lock needs to be doing. Commented Apr 20, 2018 at 8:58
  • yeah I don't follow - maybe can you add an example of delete_lock reading from the node command? I am not so good at bash that I know how, I can only guess that the read command would then go inside the delete_lock function. Commented Apr 20, 2018 at 9:01
  • @AlexanderMills See updated answer. Commented Apr 20, 2018 at 9:10
  • yeah see I don't understand how to read the input - how I can reference the stdin - say "dog" is sent to stdin, how do I reference it? (in the delete_lock function). Commented Apr 20, 2018 at 20:26

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