TRYEXEC(1)

💅 tryexec — execute into a command line, with a fallback ✨

hii bestie 🫶 this is tryexec(1) from the General Commands Manual, and it is genuinely such a useful little exec gremlin. no cap, the whole point is: try one command line, and if that fails, fall back to another one. 💖

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🌸 NAME 🌸

tryexec — execute into a command line, with a fallback. that's the whole vibe. 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

inside an execlineb(1) script, bestie, it looks like this:

tryexec [-n] [-c] [-l] [-a argv0] { prog1... } prog2...

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so tryexec reads prog1... in a block (cf. execline-block(7)). then it executes into that block, and it completely forgets prog2.... like, gone. not invited to the exec party anymore. 💀

but if for some reason the execve(2) fails — for instance, because prog1 is non-executable — then tryexec executes into prog2... instead. fallback era. 🙈

for the record, tryexec prog1... "" prog2... would be equivalent to sh -c 'exec prog1... || exec prog2...', if such a shell construct existed. unfortunately, the shell language does not offer that functionality. and that's the lore. 📖

💅 OPTIONS 💅

the -c, -l and -a options have the same semantics as with the exec(1) program — go check that icon if you need the details, bestie. 💖

• -n — reverse prog1... and prog2...'s role. the latter becomes the main execution path, and the former becomes the fallback. plot twist. 🔥
• -c — same semantics as with the exec(1) program.
• -l — same semantics as with the exec(1) program.
• -a argv0 — same semantics as with the exec(1) program.

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

go stalk these icons: emptyenv(1), envfile(1), exec(1), execline-cd(1), execline-umask(1), execlineb(1), exit(1), export(1), fdblock(1), fdclose(1), fdmove(1), fdreserve(1), fdswap(1), getcwd(1), getpid(1), heredoc(1), piperw(1), posix-cd(1), posix-umask(1), redirfd(1), trap(1), unexport(1), wait(1), withstdinas(1), execve(2), execline-block(7).

this man page is ported from the authoritative documentation at https://skarnet.org/software/execline/tryexec.html. 🫶

👑 AUTHORS 👑

• Laurent Bercot
• Alexis <flexibeast@gmail.com> (man page port)

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Debian, February 14, 2021 — mwah, bye bestie! 💋