trap-signals-and-exit

Trap signals and exit

Trap signals, such as user pressing CTRL-C, then call a function that exists gracefully:

trap_exit() {
  # Do any cleanup here, such as closing open files,
  # deleting temporary data, or printing results.
}

trap trap_exit EXIT

Trap exit, term, int, hup

If you only trap one signal, then prefer to trap EXIT instead of TERM, INT, HUP, etc. This is because EXIT is the most-significant of these signals.

If you prefer to trap multiple signals, then we favor the naming convention of trap_ such as:

trap_exit() …

trap_term() …

trap_int() …

trap_hup() …

This naming convention helps clarify that the functions are related to the trap command and also to the specific signal.