In this chapter, we're going to look at functions, and how these can enhance your scripts. The theory of functions is not too complicated: a function is a set of commands grouped together that can be called (executed) multiple times without having to write the whole set of commands again. As always, a good example is worth a thousand words, so let's dive right in with one of our favorite examples: printing Hello world!.
Functions explained
Hello world!
We now know it's relatively easy to get the words Hello world! to appear on our terminal. A simple echo "Hello world!" does just the trick. However, if we wanted to do this multiple times, how would we go about it? You could suggest using any kind of...