Execute a shell function with timeout

Question

Why would this work

timeout 10s echo \"foo bar\" # foo bar

but this wouldn\'t

function echoFooBar {
  echo \"foo bar\"
}

e         


        

Answer 1

if you just want to add timeout as an additional option for the entire existing script, you can make it test for the timeout-option, and then make it call it self recursively without that option.

example.sh:

#!/bin/bash
if [ "$1" == "-t" ]; then
  timeout 1m $0 $2
else
  #the original script
  echo $1
  sleep 2m
  echo YAWN...
fi

running this script without timeout:

$./example.sh -other_option # -other_option
                            # YAWN...

running it with a one minute timeout:

$./example.sh -t -other_option # -other_option

Answer 2

function foo(){
    for i in {1..100};
    do 
        echo $i;  
        sleep 1;
    done;
}

cat <( foo ) # Will work 
timeout 3 cat <( foo ) # Will Work 
timeout 3 cat <( foo ) | sort # Wont work, As sort will fail 
cat <( timeout 3 cat <( foo ) ) | sort -r # Will Work 

Answer 3

I have a slight modification of @Tiago Lopo's answer that can handle commands with multiple arguments. I've also tested TauPan's solution, but it does not work if you use it multiple times in a script, while Tiago's does.

function timeout_cmd { 
  local arr
  local cmd
  local timeout

  arr=( "$@" )

  # timeout: first arg
  # cmd: the other args
  timeout="${arr[0]}"
  cmd=( "${arr[@]:1}" )

  ( 
    eval "${cmd[@]}" &
    child=$!

    echo "child: $child"
    trap -- "" SIGTERM 
    (       
      sleep "$timeout"
      kill "$child" 2> /dev/null 
    ) &     
    wait "$child"
  )
}

Here's a fully functional script thant you can use to test the function above:

$ ./test_timeout.sh -h
Usage:
  test_timeout.sh [-n] [-r REPEAT] [-s SLEEP_TIME] [-t TIMEOUT]
  test_timeout.sh -h

Test timeout_cmd function.

Options:
  -n              Dry run, do not actually sleep. 
  -r REPEAT       Reapeat everything multiple times [default: 1].
  -s SLEEP_TIME   Sleep for SLEEP_TIME seconds [default: 5].
  -t TIMEOUT      Timeout after TIMEOUT seconds [default: no timeout].

For example you cnal launch like this:

$ ./test_timeout.sh -r 2 -s 5 -t 3
Try no: 1
  - Set timeout to: 3
child: 2540
    -> retval: 143
    -> The command timed out
Try no: 2
  - Set timeout to: 3
child: 2593
    -> retval: 143
    -> The command timed out
Done!

#!/usr/bin/env bash

#shellcheck disable=SC2128
SOURCED=false && [ "$0" = "$BASH_SOURCE" ] || SOURCED=true

if ! $SOURCED; then
  set -euo pipefail
  IFS=$'\n\t'
fi

#################### helpers
function check_posint() {
  local re='^[0-9]+$'
  local mynum="$1"
  local option="$2"

  if ! [[ "$mynum" =~ $re ]] ; then
     (echo -n "Error in option '$option': " >&2)
     (echo "must be a positive integer, got $mynum." >&2)
     exit 1
  fi

  if ! [ "$mynum" -gt 0 ] ; then
     (echo "Error in option '$option': must be positive, got $mynum." >&2)
     exit 1
  fi
}
#################### end: helpers

#################### usage
function short_usage() {
  (>&2 echo \
"Usage:
  test_timeout.sh [-n] [-r REPEAT] [-s SLEEP_TIME] [-t TIMEOUT]
  test_timeout.sh -h"
  )
}

function usage() {
  (>&2 short_usage )
  (>&2 echo \
"
Test timeout_cmd function.

Options:
  -n              Dry run, do not actually sleep. 
  -r REPEAT       Reapeat everything multiple times [default: 1].
  -s SLEEP_TIME   Sleep for SLEEP_TIME seconds [default: 5].
  -t TIMEOUT      Timeout after TIMEOUT seconds [default: no timeout].
")
}
#################### end: usage

help_flag=false
dryrun_flag=false
SLEEP_TIME=5
TIMEOUT=-1
REPEAT=1

while getopts ":hnr:s:t:" opt; do
  case $opt in
    h)
      help_flag=true
      ;;    
    n)
      dryrun_flag=true
      ;;
    r)
      check_posint "$OPTARG" '-r'

      REPEAT="$OPTARG"
      ;;
    s)
      check_posint "$OPTARG" '-s'

      SLEEP_TIME="$OPTARG"
      ;;
    t)
      check_posint "$OPTARG" '-t'

      TIMEOUT="$OPTARG"
      ;;
    \?)
      (>&2 echo "Error. Invalid option: -$OPTARG.")
      (>&2 echo "Try -h to get help")
      short_usage
      exit 1
      ;;
    :)
      (>&2 echo "Error.Option -$OPTARG requires an argument.")
      (>&2 echo "Try -h to get help")
      short_usage
      exit 1
      ;;
  esac
done

if $help_flag; then
  usage
  exit 0
fi

#################### utils
if $dryrun_flag; then
  function wrap_run() {
    ( echo -en "[dry run]\\t" )
    ( echo "$@" )
  }
else
  function wrap_run() { "$@"; }
fi

# Execute a shell function with timeout
# https://stackoverflow.com/a/24416732/2377454
function timeout_cmd { 
  local arr
  local cmd
  local timeout

  arr=( "$@" )

  # timeout: first arg
  # cmd: the other args
  timeout="${arr[0]}"
  cmd=( "${arr[@]:1}" )

  ( 
    eval "${cmd[@]}" &
    child=$!

    echo "child: $child"
    trap -- "" SIGTERM 
    (       
      sleep "$timeout"
      kill "$child" 2> /dev/null 
    ) &     
    wait "$child"
  )
}
####################

function sleep_func() {
  local secs
  local waitsec

  waitsec=1
  secs=$(($1))
  while [ "$secs" -gt 0 ]; do
   echo -ne "$secs\033[0K\r"
   sleep "$waitsec"
   secs=$((secs-waitsec))
  done

}

command=("wrap_run" \
         "sleep_func" "${SLEEP_TIME}"
         )

for i in $(seq 1 "$REPEAT"); do
  echo "Try no: $i"

  if [ "$TIMEOUT" -gt 0 ]; then
    echo "  - Set timeout to: $TIMEOUT"
    set +e
    timeout_cmd "$TIMEOUT" "${command[@]}"
    retval="$?"
    set -e

    echo "    -> retval: $retval"
    # check if (retval % 128) == SIGTERM (== 15)
    if [[ "$((retval % 128))" -eq 15 ]]; then
      echo "    -> The command timed out"
    fi
  else
    echo "  - No timeout"
    "${command[@]}"
    retval="$?"
  fi
done

echo "Done!"

exit 0

Answer 4

You can create a function which would allow you to do the same as timeout but also for other functions:

function run_cmd { 
    cmd="$1"; timeout="$2";
    grep -qP '^\d+$' <<< $timeout || timeout=10

    ( 
        eval "$cmd" &
        child=$!
        trap -- "" SIGTERM 
        (       
                sleep $timeout
                kill $child 2> /dev/null 
        ) &     
        wait $child
    )
}

And could run as below:

run_cmd "echoFooBar" 10

Note: The solution came from one of my questions: Elegant solution to implement timeout for bash commands and functions

Answer 5

Putting my comment to Tiago Lopo's answer into more readable form:

I think it's more readable to impose a timeout on the most recent subshell, this way we don't need to eval a string and the whole script can be highlighted as shell by your favourite editor. I simply put the commands after the subshell with eval has spawned into a shell-function (tested with zsh, but should work with bash):

timeout_child () {
    trap -- "" SIGTERM
    child=$!
    timeout=$1
    (
            sleep $timeout
            kill $child
    ) &
    wait $child
}

Example usage:

( while true; do echo -n .; sleep 0.1; done) & timeout_child 2

And this way it also works with a shell function (if it runs in the background):

 print_dots () {
     while true
     do
         sleep 0.1
         echo -n .
     done
 }


 > print_dots & timeout_child 2
 [1] 21725
 [3] 21727
 ...................[1]    21725 terminated  print_dots
 [3]  + 21727 done       ( sleep $timeout; kill $child; )

Answer 6

As Douglas Leeder said you need a separate process for timeout to signal to. Workaround by exporting function to subshells and running subshell manually.

export -f echoFooBar
timeout 10s bash -c echoFooBar