How execute bash script line by line?

Question

If I enter bash -x option, it will show all the line. But the script will execute normaly.

How can I execute line by line? Than I can see if it do the correct thing, or I abort and fix the bug. The same effect is put a read in every line.

Answer 1

You don't need to put a read in everyline, just add a trap like the following into your bash script, it has the effect you want, eg.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -x
trap read debug

< YOUR CODE HERE >

Works, just tested it with bash v4.2.8 and v3.2.25.

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IMPROVED VERSION

If your script is reading content from files, the above listed will not work. A workaround could look like the following example.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
echo "Press CTRL+C to proceed."
trap "pkill -f 'sleep 1h'" INT
trap "set +x ; sleep 1h ; set -x" DEBUG

< YOUR CODE HERE >

To stop the script you would have to kill it from another shell in this case.

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ALTERNATIVE1

If you simply want to wait a few seconds before proceeding to the next command in your script the following example could work for you.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
trap "set +x; sleep 5; set -x" DEBUG

< YOUR CODE HERE >

I'm adding set +x and set -x within the trap command to make the output more readable.