set -e in various shells

"`set -e`" in various shells

2015-10-15 (see recent changes)

Variations in the handling of set -e and the resulting exit status among the various traditional and POSIX conformant implementations.

Here are deep links to the definition in SUSv2, SUSv3, SUSv4.
See a discussion (and the topic igniting it a few days before) about this on the Austin Group (SUS/POSIX) discussion mailing list archive, starting on Feb 16 2009
with consensus that the wording has to be improved to become more consistent and to match existing practice.
See entry 0000537 (and the related 0000052) in the Austin Group Issue Tracker.

Possible questions about set -e:

Do you expect "find|xargs" to exit, if find fails? It does not because the exit status of a pipeline is determined by the last command (existing practice).
How should negated commands or pipelines behave? Examples: "! true" and "! false"
(Is it a syntactical construct; or is this "making use" of the exit code? Existing practice also becomes relevant.)
Should subshells inherit the flag? Example: "(false; echo foo)"
Should set -e re-enable the flag in subshells? Example: "(set -e; false; echo foo)"
Is the first command in a group relevant at all? "{cmd1; cmd2; } || cmd3
If not, then, is the first command in a function relevant? Is a function just a "named" group?
Do you expect a failing subshell "(false)" to exit the parent shell, too?

Using set -e has its quirks. As alternative, you can connect your commands with &&, or break out with ||alternative_cmd in critical places.

The following table lists tests results, most of them originate from or are inspired by the austin list.
Take the columns as pairs, with the shell output to the left and the exit status $? to the right.
A second table with tests suggested by David Korn on the austin-list follows below. The two tables eventually should be merged.

commandline	V7-sh	$?	SVR2 sh ultrix	$?	SVR3 sh sun413	$?	SVR4 sh sun5.1	$?	SVR4 sh sun5.10	$?	ksh86a ep/ix	$?	ksh88d ep/ix	$?	ksh88g sun53	$?	ksh88i sun5.9	$?	ksh93 -k	$?	ksh93 -t	$?	pdksh -5.2.14	$?	posh- 0.6.17	$?	hist. ash	$?	bash- 1.05	$?	bash- 1.14.0	$?	bash- 1.14.7	$?	bash- 3.2.48	$?	bash- 3.2.48 --posix	$?	bash- 4.0.35	$?	bash- 4.0.35 --posix	$?	dash- 0.3.4	$?	dash- 0.3.8	$?	dash- 0.5.5.1	$?	dash- 0.5.5.1 -4	$?	zsh- 3.0.8	$?	zsh- 4.3.9	$?
false; echo $?		1		1		255		255		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	1	0		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
set +e; false; echo $?		1	1	0	255	0	255	0	255	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	255	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0
! false; echo $?	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	N/A	2	N/A	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
! true ; echo $?	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	1	0	1	0	1	0		1		1	N/A	2	N/A	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0		1	1	0	1	0	1	0		1		1
! ! false ; echo $?	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	1	0	1	0	1	0		1		1	N/A	2	N/A	0	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2		1	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	0	N/A	1
(false; echo foo); echo \ $?		1		1		255		255		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	1	0		1	foo 0	0	255	0		139	1	0	1	0		1		1		1	1	0	1	0		1		1		1
(! false; echo foo); echo \ $?	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	N/A	2	N/A	0	foo 0	0		139	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0
(! true; echo foo); echo \ $?	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		1	1	0	N/A	2	N/A	0	foo 0	0		139	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		1		1
for i in .; do (false; echo foo); echo \ 1:$?; done; echo \ 2:$?		1		1		255		255		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	1:1 2:0	0		1	foo 1:0 2:0	0	1:255 2:0	0		139	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0		1		1		1	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0		1		1		1
for i in .; do false && true; echo \ 1:$?; done; echo \ 2:$?		1	1:1 2:0	0	1:255 2:0	0	1:255 2:0	0	1:255 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0		1	1:1 2:0	0	1:255 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0
for i in x x ; do echo x; false && true; done; echo \ 2:$?	x	1	xx 2:1	0	xx 2:255	0	xx 2:255	0	xx 2:255	0	?	?	?	?	xx 2:1	0	xx 2:1	0	xx 2:1	0	xx 2:1	0	x	1	x	1	x	1	xx 2:0	0	xx 2:255	0	xx 2:1	0	xx 2:1	0	xx 2:1	0	xx 2:1	0	xx 2:1	0	x	1	xx 2:1	0	xx 2:1	0	xx 2:1	0	xx 2:1	0	xx 2:1	0
false\| true; echo $?		1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
true \| false; echo $?		1		1		255		255		255		1	1	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	1	0		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
true \|(false; echo foo); echo \ $?		1		1		255		255		255		1	1	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	foo 0	0	255	0		139	1	0	1	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
(false; echo foo) \| cat ; echo \ $?		1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	foo 0	0	0	0		139	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
(false; echo foo) \|\| echo bar; echo \ $?		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	bar 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		139	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	bar 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0
(set -e; false; echo foo) \|\| echo bar; echo \ $?		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	bar 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	bar 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		139	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	bar 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0
{ false; echo foo;}\| cat ; echo \ $?		1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	foo 0	0	0	0		139	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
{ false; echo foo;}\|\| echo bar; echo \ $?		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0
{ set -e; false; echo foo;}\|\| echo bar; echo \ $?		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		255	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0
echo foo \| while read x ; do (false) ; done; echo $?		1		1		255		255		255		1	1	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	0	0	255	0		139	1	0	1	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
echo foo \| while read x ; do (false) ; done \| true; echo $?	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		139	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
true && false; echo $?		1		1		255		255		255	1	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	1	0		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
false && false; echo $?		1	1	0	255	0	255	0	255	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0		1	1	0	255	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0
false && true; echo $?		1	1	0	255	0	255	0	255	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0		1	1	0	255	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0
false \|\| echo $?		1	1	0	255	0	255	0	255	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	255	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0
false \|\| true; echo $?		1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
false \|\| false; echo $?		1		1		255		255		255	1	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	1	0		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
false `true` \|\| echo $?		1		1		255		255		255	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	255	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0
(false && false; echo foo) ; echo \ $?		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		139	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0
(false && false ) ; echo \ $?		1		1		255		255		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	1	0		1	1	0	255	0		139	1	0	1	0		1		1		1	1	0	1	0		1		1		1
if false; then :; else echo \ 1:$?; fi; echo \ 2:$?		1	1:1 2:0	0	1:255 2:0	0	1:255 2:0	0	1:255 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:255 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0
if false; then :; else false; echo foo; fi; echo \ 2:$?		1		1		255		255		255	foo 2:0	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	foo 2:0	0		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
if ! false; then :; else echo \ 1:$?; fi; echo \ 2:$?	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0
if ! false; then :; else false; echo foo; fi; echo \ 2:$?	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	255	N/A	255	N/A	255	N/A	0	N/A	1	N/A	1	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	N/A	1	N/A	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0
if `false`; then :; else echo \ 1:$?; fi; echo \ 2:$?		1		1		255		255		255	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:255 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0	2:0	0	1:1 2:0	0
if `false`; then :; else false; echo foo; fi; echo \ 2:$?		1		1		255		255		255	foo 2:0	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	2:0	0	foo 2:0	0		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	2:0	0		1
if true; then false; echo foo; fi; echo \ 2:$?		1		1		255		255		255	foo 2:0	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	foo 2:0	0		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
if ! true; then false; echo foo; fi; echo \ 2:$?	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	N/A	2	N/A	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0	2:0	0
if true; then : `false`; fi; echo $?		1		1		255		255		255	1	0		1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
if true; then : `false`; echo foo; fi; echo \ $?		1		1		255		255		255	foo 0	0		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0
echo `false; echo foo`; echo \ $?		1		1		255		255		255		1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	foo 0	0	0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	0	0	foo 0	0	0	0	0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	0	0	0	0
f() { false; echo foo; }; f; echo \ $?	N/A	2		1		255		255		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	foo 0	0		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
f() { false; echo foo; }; f \|\| echo foo2; echo \ $?	N/A	2	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0
f() { false && false; echo foo; }; f; echo \ $?	N/A	2	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0
f() { false && true ; }; f; echo \ $?	N/A	2	1	0	255	0	255	0	255	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	1	0		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	1	0	1	0
f() { false && false; }; f; echo \ $?	N/A	2	1	0	255	0	255	0	255	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	1	0		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	1	0	1	0
f() { false && true; }; eval f; echo \ $?	N/A	2	1	0	255	0	255	0	255	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	0	0		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	1	0	1	0
f() { false && false; }; eval f; echo \ $?	N/A	2	1	0	255	0	255	0	255	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	0	0		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	1	0	1	0
eval 'false && true; echo foo'; echo \ $?		1	foo 0	0	255	0	255	0	255	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		1		1		1	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0		1	foo 0	0		255	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	foo 0	0	1	0	foo 0	0
. ./to_source; echo $? # to_source: "false && true"		1	1	0	255	0	255	0	255	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	0	0		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	1	0	1	0
trap echo\ \$\? 0; (exit 2); exit 1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	0	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	2	2	21	0	1	1	0	139	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2
commandline	V7-sh	$?	SVR2 sh ultrix	$?	SVR3 sh sun413	$?	SVR4 sh sun5.1	$?	SVR4 sh sun5.10	$?	ksh86a ep/ix	$?	ksh88d ep/ix	$?	ksh88g sun53	$?	ksh88i sun5.9	$?	ksh93 -k	$?	ksh93 -t	$?	pdksh -5.2.14	$?	posh- 0.6.17	$?	hist. ash	$?	bash- 1.05	$?	bash- 1.14.0	$?	bash- 1.14.7	$?	bash- 3.2.48	$?	bash- 3.2.48 --posix	$?	bash- 4.0.35	$?	bash- 4.0.35 --posix	$?	dash- 0.3.4	$?	dash- 0.3.8	$?	dash- 0.5.5.1	$?	dash- 0.5.5.1 -4	$?	zsh- 3.0.8	$?	zsh- 4.3.9	$?

About the table:

N/A means: The feature (! negation, or functions) is not available, which results in a message like "command not found" or "syntax error".
? means that I have no result for this test yet.
Some shells are not listed explicitly, because the results were identical to a related shell in the table:
- the results of sh-sunos5.5, sh-sunos5.9, sh-heirloom050706 and sh-schily are identical to sh-sunos5.10
- the results of xpg4-ksh-sunos5.9 are identical to ksh88i-sunos5.9
- the results of bash-1.14.7 are the same if called in posix-mode
- the results of bash-2.05a, bash-2.05b and bash-3.0 are identical to bash-3.2.48
- the results of bash-2.05a, bash-2.05b and bash-3.0 in posix-mode are identical to bash-3.2.48 in posix-mode
- the results of bash-4.1.0 are identical to bash-4.0.35
- the results of dash-0.4.6, dash-0.4.26 and dash-0.5.3 are identical to dash-0.5.5.1
- the results of zsh-4.3.9 are the same if called as sh-4.3.9
- the results of zsh-3.0.8 are identical to zsh-4.0.4
- the results of posh-0.6.17 are the same if called in posix-mode, and posh.0.5.4 behaves identical
In traditional Bourne shells since SVR1 (with the exceptions where fixed) "set -e" must be the last command in a line, because it doesn't show effect until the next line.
The V7 shell behaves rather different, because basic fixes about set -e were added later.

The results were collected with a method like this

    $ cat tests
    false; echo $?
    set +e; false; echo $?
    [...]

    $ cat loop
    while IFS= read -r line ; do
        {print HTML}
        for i in {shells}
        do
            log=`$i -ec "$line" 2>&1`
            ret=$?
            log=`printf '%s' "$log"|tr -d '\n'`
            printf {HTML with "$log" and "$ret"}
        done
    done < tests

...and then piped through sed to substitute "N/A" for the error messages.
The very script is longer, because results from different systems have to get interspersed
and a few shells (e.g. ksh86a, historical ash, bash-1.05) have to be called slightly different.

Here is a table with results for the tests suggested by D. Korn on the austin-list.

commandline	V7-sh	$?	svr2-sh ultrix	$?	svr3-sh sun-413	$?	svr4-sh sun-5.1	$?	svr4-sh sun-5.10	$?	ksh86a ep/ix	$?	ksh88d ep/ix	$?	ksh88g sun-53	$?	ksh88i- sun-5.9	$?	ksh93-k	$?	ksh93-t	$?	pdksh- 5.2.14	$?	posh- 0.6.17	$?	hist. ash	$?	bash- 1.14.0	$?	bash- 1.14.7	$?	bash- 4.0.35	$?	bash- 4.0.35 --posix	$?	dash- 0.3.4	$?	dash- 0.3.8	$?	dash- 0.5.5.1	$?	dash- 0.5.5.1 -4	$?	zsh- 4.3.9	$?
$SHELL -ec "false;true" && echo "1"		1		1		255		255		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
$SHELL -ec "! true;true" && echo "2"	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	N/A	1	2	0	2	0	2	0		1		1	N/A	2	2	0	2	0	2	0	2	0		1	2	0	2	0	2	0		1
$SHELL -ec "if false;false;then true;fi" \|\| echo "3"		1		0		0		0	3	0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0	3	0		0		0		0		0	3	0		0		0		0		0
$SHELL -ec "if false;then echo bar3;elif false;then true;fi" \|\| echo "4"		1		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0	4	0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0
$SHELL -ec "while false; true;do break;done" \|\| echo "5"		1		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0	5	0		0		0		0		0	5	0		0		0		0		0
$SHELL -ec "until false;do break;done" \|\| echo "6"		1		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0
$SHELL -ec "until ! true ;do break;done" \|\| echo "7"	N/A	1	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0		0		0		0		0		0	N/A	0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0
$SHELL -ec "false \|\| true" \|\| echo "8"		1		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0
$SHELL -ec "false \|\| false" && echo "9"		1		1		255		255		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
$SHELL -ec "false \|\| { false;true;}" && echo "10"		1		1		255		255		255	10	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
$SHELL -ec "{ false;true;} \|\| { false;true;}" \|\| echo "11"		1		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0	11	0		0		0		0		0	11	0		0		0		0		0
$SHELL -ec "(false);true" && echo "12"		1		1		255		255		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	12	0		1	12	0		139		1		1		1	12	0	12	0		1		1
$SHELL -ec "exec 2>/dev/null;true > .;true" \|\| echo "13"	sh-v7-vladov: .: cannot open	1	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0	13	0
$SHELL -ec "false \| true" \|\| echo "14"		1		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0
$SHELL -ec "true \| false" && echo "15"		1		1		255		255		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
$SHELL -ec "while true;do false;break;done" && echo "16"		1		1		255		255		255	16	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
$SHELL -ec "f(){ false;};f" && echo "17"	N/A	2		1		255		255		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
$SHELL -ec "f()(false);f" && echo "18"	N/A	2		1		255		255		255	N/A	2		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	N/A	1	N/A	1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
$SHELL -ec "f(){ false;true;};f" && echo "19"	N/A	2		1		255		255		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		255		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
$SHELL -ec "f()(false;true);f" && echo "20"	N/A	2		1		255		255		255	N/A	2		1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	N/A	1	N/A	1		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
$SHELL -ec "f(){ false;true;};f && true" \|\| echo "21"	N/A	2		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0	21	0		0		0		0		0	21	0		0		0		0		0
$SHELL -ec "f()( false;true);f && true" \|\| echo "22"	N/A	2		0		0		0		0	N/A	0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0	22	0	N/A	0	N/A	0		0		0	22	0		0		0		0		0
$SHELL -ec "f(){ set -e;false;true;};f && true" \|\| echo "23"	N/A	2		0		0		0	23	0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0	23	0		0		0		0		0	23	0		0		0		0		0
$SHELL -ec "f()( set -e;false;true);f && true" \|\| echo "24"	N/A	2		0		0		0	24	0	N/A	0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0	24	0	N/A	0	N/A	0		0		0	24	0		0		0		0		0
[ "$($SHELL -ec "{ false;echo foo;} \| cat")" = '' ] \|\| echo "25"	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0
[ "$($SHELL -ec "f(){ false;echo foo;}; f \| cat")" = '' ] \|\| echo "26"	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0
[ "$($SHELL -ec "f()(false;echo foo); f \| cat")" = '' ] \|\| echo "27"	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0	N/A	0	N/A	0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0
$SHELL -ec "! true \| false" \|\| echo "28"	N/A	1	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0		0		0		0		0		0	N/A	0	28	0	28	0		0		0	28	0		0		0		0		0
$SHELL -ec "! true \| true;true" && echo "29"	N/A	1	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0	29	0	29	0	29	0		1		1	N/A	0	29	0	29	0	29	0	29	0	29	0	29	0	29	0	29	0		1
$SHELL -ec "! { true \| true;};true" && echo "30"	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2	N/A	2	30	0	30	0	30	0		1		1	N/A	2	30	0	30	0	30	0	30	0		1	30	0	30	0	30	0		1
$SHELL -ec "true \| { false;};true" && echo "31"		1		1		255		255		255		1	31	0		1		1		1		1		1		1		1	31	0		139		1		1		1		1		1		1		1
commandline	V7-sh	$?	svr2-sh ultrix	$?	svr3-sh sun-413	$?	svr4-sh sun-5.1	$?	svr4-sh sun-5.10	$?	ksh86a ep/ix	$?	ksh88d ep/ix	$?	ksh88g sun-53	$?	ksh88i- sun-5.9	$?	ksh93-k	$?	ksh93-t	$?	pdksh- 5.2.14	$?	posh- 0.6.17	$?	hist. ash	$?	bash- 1.14.0	$?	bash- 1.14.7	$?	bash- 4.0.35	$?	bash- 4.0.35 --posix	$?	dash- 0.3.4	$?	dash- 0.3.8	$?	dash- 0.5.5.1	$?	dash- 0.5.5.1 -4	$?	zsh- 4.3.9	$?

Comments to <mascheck@in-ulm.de>

<http://www.in-ulm.de/~mascheck/various/set-e/>

"set -e" in various shells

"`set -e`" in various shells