Re: condition to execute

[Lawrence Velázquez]

On Tue, Jul 6, 2021, at 5:41 PM, lisa-asket@perso.be wrote:
> In elisp, I can return an object from a function using the last command 
> in the function.

Analogously, the exit status of a shell function or script is that
of the last command it executes (setting aside 'return' and 'exit'
and such).

> Does this not apply to bash functions as well?  Should all bash functions only
> return a proper exit status and nothing else?

Shell functions CANNOT return anything other than exit statuses.
That is how they work.

    $ f() { return hi; }; f
    bash: return: hi: numeric argument required

They must use other means to convey arbitrary data.  (Do not
misinterpret that error message to mean that returning numeric
results is acceptable.  It is not.)

https://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashFAQ/084

-- 
vq