BASH script with sudo

Question

I'm currently writing a little script in bash to ask the user for some setting. The script is asking some infos, and then run other scripts. I have to run it under sudo, because I have some apt-get install in scripts.

But when I launch it with sudo, I have this error :

./install_all: 1: ./install_all: Syntax error: "(" unexpected

Here is the beginning of my script :

function askAllInfo() {
    echo -e "
    #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#
    |     Choix de la version de PHP     | 
    |                                    |
    |              1.) PHP5              |
    |              2.) PHP7              |
    #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#\n"

    read -e -p "Selectionner la version PHP pour l'installation de Maarch (PHP5) : " phpVERSION
    if [ "$phpVERSION" == "1" ] || [ "$phpVERSION" == "" ]; then
        phpVersion='5'
    elif [ "$phpVERSION" == "2" ]; then
        phpVersion='7'
    fi

    echo -e "
    #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#
    |    Choix du chemin d'installation de MAARCH :    |
    #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#\n"
    read -e -p "Merci de spécifier le chemin pour l'installation de Maarch (/var/www/maarch_courrier) : " maarchURL
    if [ "$maarchURL" == "" ]; then
        MAARCH_SITE=/var/www/maarch_courrier
    else
        MAARCH_SITE=$maarchURL
    fi

    echo -e "
    #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#
    |    Choix du chemin des docservers :    |
    #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#\n"
    read -e -p "Merci de spécifier le chemin des docservers (/var/docserver) : " docserversURL
    if [ "$docserversURL" == "" ]; then
        DOCSERVER_PATH=/var/docserver
    else
        DOCSERVER_PATH=$docserversURL
    fi

    echo -e "
    #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#
    |        Choix du nom de la BDD :        |
    #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#\n"
    read -e -p "Merci de spécifier le nom de la base de donnée (maarch) : " databaseName
    if [ "$databaseName" == "" ]; then
        DATABASE_NAME=maarch
    else
        DATABASE_NAME=$databaseName
    fi

    echo -e "
    #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#
    |        Choix du login de l'utilisateur de la BDD :        |
    #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#\n"
    read -e -p "Merci de spécifier le login de l'utilisateur de la base de donnée (postgres) : " databaseUser
    if [ "$databaseUser" == "" ]; then
        DATABASE_USER=postgres
    else
        DATABASE_USER=$databaseUser
    fi

    echo -e "
    #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#
    |          Choix du mdp de l'utilisateur de la BDD :        |
    #~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~#\n"
    read -e -p "Merci de spécifier le mot de passe de l'utilisateur de la base de donnée (postgres) : " databasePass
    if [ "$databasePass" == "" ]; then
        DATABASE_PASSWORD=postgres
    else
        DATABASE_USER=$databasePass
    fi
}

askAllInfo

How can I fix this issue ?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Assuming you're showing the very beginning of the script, I think it's probably running under regular sh. The sh language does not support the function keyword (reference). If you add

#!/bin/bash

as the first line of your script, so that it runs under bash, you should be OK.

Alternatively, you can remove the word function from the first line of your script. However, it's better to add the #! so you can make use of the bash features.

---

As a test, I tried using dash (which doesn't support some of the bash extensions) on Cygwin. The line

function foo() {

gave me the corresponding error:

dash: 1: Syntax error: "(" unexpected

but

foo() {

worked fine.