Bash: how to check if a command executed in time

Question

I am trying to execute this command expressvpn connect in a bash script to be executed in terminal. The problem is that sometimes it takes too long to connect and I want to make sure it doesn't take too much. I tried this command

some_command
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
    echo OK
else
    echo FAIL
fi

but this is for checking wether the command is executed or not, while I want to make sure that if it is not executed in, say 10 seconds, then the script must stop and start over from the beginning. How do I do that? Here's the full code

#!/bin/bash

expressvpn disconnect 

while (0<1); do
    expressvpn connect smart location
    xdg-open http://link 
    sleep 15 
    xdotool key Control_L+w  
    expressvpn disconnect  
    expressvpn refresh
done

I hope I was clear. Thanks in advance.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9954794/execute-function-with-timeout — Marged, Oct 24 '17 at 19:19
right! I can use timeout. I didn't think about that. Thank you — MFJOE, Oct 24 '17 at 19:27

Luis Gonzalo Fernández-Díez · Answer 1 · 2017-10-24T20:28:09.500

1

I hope you find it useful.

timeout 15s expressvpn connect smart location>/dev/null &

edited Oct 24 '17 at 20:28

answered Oct 24 '17 at 19:08

Luis Gonzalo Fernández-Díez

89
1
7

but this checks if the command is executed, while I want to give my command a timeout – MFJOE Oct 24 '17 at 19:28
You need remove background "&". Otherwise $? is a non sense – Indent Oct 24 '17 at 20:20
Yes, you're right, but better without the checking since @mfjoe only needs the timeout. – Luis Gonzalo Fernández-Díez Oct 24 '17 at 20:28

Indent · Answer 2 · 2017-10-25T07:14:31.930

0

You can simply execute this :

 timeout 15s expressvpn connect smart location

 case "$?" in
     0)   echo "OK"      ;;
     124) echo "TIMEOUT" ;;
     *)   echo "FAIL"    ;;
 esac

from man timeout

Exit status:

124 if command times out
125 if timeout itself fails
126 if command is found but cannot be invoked
127 if command cannot be found
137 if command is sent the KILL(9) signal (128+9)

edited Oct 25 '17 at 07:14

answered Oct 24 '17 at 19:46

Indent

4,675
1
19
35

It works as long as I use one "case", but when I use two of them it gives me this error `/typert: line 25: syntax error near unexpected token `)' ./typert: line 25: ` 124) echo "EXPRESSVPN TIMEOUT" ;;' `. Is that because of that value? 124? I tried the debug and this error happens when executing the second case. So one case it's fine but how can I use two? – MFJOE Oct 24 '17 at 21:23

Bash: how to check if a command executed in time

2 Answers2