mjhjmtu

so i'm trying to make a function that will check if a file has been modified using this function:

located in functions.zsh:

changed() 
 echo "$1"
 if [ -f "$1_changed" ]; then
 if [ stat -f "%Z" != $(<"$_changed") ]; then
 return 1
 else
 return 0
 fi
 else
 stat -f "%Z" "$1" > "$1_changed"
 return 1
 fi

The current use case is this:

located in load_plugins.sh:

if [ changed("plugins") -eq 1]; then
 echo "plugin file updated, installing plugins"
 antibody bundle < "$plugin_file" > "$installed_plugins"
 if [[ $OSTYPE == *darwin* ]];then
 antibody bundle robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh folder: lib/clipboard >> "$installed_plugins"
 fi
fi

both of which are sourced like this:

located in ~/.zshrc

base_path="$HOME/.zsh"
config_path="$base_path/config"

source "$custom_path/functions.zsh"
source "$config_path/load_plugins.zsh" "$config_path"

the problem is I get this error:

load_plugins.zsh:7: number expected

which is this line:

if [ changed("plugins") -eq 1]; then

I've also noticed that if I place:

echo changed("plugins")

before:

if [ changed("plugins") -eq 1]; then

Nothing is printed out to the terminal, same thing for the echo within changed() which I placed to check if the function was working.

What am I doing wrong?

EDIT:

Changes I've made so far:

changed() 
 echo "$1"
 if [ -f "$1_changed" ]; then
 if [ "$(stat -f "%Z")" != "$(<"$1_changed")" ]; then
 return 1
 else
 return 0
 fi
 else
 "$(stat -f "%Z" "$1")" > "$1_changed"
 return 1
 fi

FINISHED WORKING VERSION

changed () 

Your updated function, with corrected quotes in a call to stat (the quotes would have been outputted and the later tests against the contents of the file would have always failed due to them):

changed() 
 echo "$1"
 if [ -f "$1_changed" ]; then
 if [ "$(stat -f "%Z")" != "$(<"$1_changed")" ]; then # escaped quotes removed
 return 1
 else
 return 0
 fi
 else
 "$(stat -f "%Z" "$1")" > "$1_changed" # note: error here
 return 1
 fi

This may be shortened significantly into:

changed () 
 echo "$1"

 if [ ! -f "$1_changed" ]; then
 stat -f %Z "$1" >"$1_changed"
 return 1
 fi

 [ "$(stat -f %Z)" != "$(<"$1_changed")" ]

Here, I've also turned a command substitution that would have run the output of stat into a straight call to stat, redirected into the output file (see error here note in first piece of code).

I've also changed the logic of the function so that not so many return calls are needed. If there is no return, the exit status of the function will be that of the last statement in the function.

We can make this slightly neater with

changed () 
 echo "$1"

 local timestamp="$(stat -f %Z "$1")"

 if [ ! -f "$1_changed" ]; then
 printf '%sn' "$timestamp" >"$1_changed"
 return 1
 fi

 [ "$timestamp" != "$(<"$1_changed")" ]

Later, you may call this function using

if changed "$filename"; then
 # do something, the file in "$filename" changed
fi

Note that your call,

if [ changed("plugins") -eq 1]; then

has several syntax errors.

Eliminate four errors in

 if [ stat -f "%Z" != $(<"$_changed") ]; then

which are:

• use "command substitution" $(...)
  


• change stat -f to -c option


• add a file name ($1) for stat (later downstream as well!)


• use correct file name with $1
  

yielding

 if [ $(stat -c "%Z" "$1") != $(<"$1_changed") ]; then