Is there a goto statement available in bash on Linux?

Bash on Linux does not have a built-in goto statement. Unlike languages such as C or BASIC, bash lacks native goto functionality, and no official control structures exist in the bash documentation to provide direct jump capabilities. However, we can simulate goto-like behavior using alternative approaches with break, continue, and conditional statements.

Alternative Approaches to Goto

While bash doesn't support goto directly, there are several ways to achieve similar control flow behavior.

Method 1: Using Conditional Statements

The simplest way to skip code blocks is using if statements with conditions that control execution flow −

# ... Code you want to run here ...

if false; then
    # ... Code you want to skip here ...
fi

# ... Code resumes here ...

Method 2: Function-Based Goto Implementation

A more sophisticated approach involves creating a custom goto function that uses sed to extract and execute code after a specified label −

#!/bin/bash

function goto {
    label=$1
    cmd=$(sed -n "/$label:/{:a;n;p;ba};" $0 | grep -v ':$')
    eval "$cmd"
    exit
}

startFunc=${1:-"startFunc"}
goto $startFunc

startFunc:
x=100
goto foo

mid:
x=101
echo "Not printed!"

foo:
x=${x:-10}
echo "x is $x"

Sample Output

$ ./sample.sh
x is 100
$ ./sample.sh foo
x is 10
$ ./sample.sh mid
Not printed!
x is 101

How the Custom Goto Works

The function-based implementation works by −

• Label Detection − Uses sed to find the specified label followed by a colon

• Code Extraction − Extracts all lines after the label until the end of file

• Dynamic Execution − Uses eval to execute the extracted code

• Script Termination − Calls exit to prevent execution of remaining code

Better Alternatives in Bash

Instead of simulating goto, consider these bash-native approaches −

Conclusion

While bash lacks native goto support, you can simulate similar behavior using conditional statements or custom functions. However, it's better to use bash's built-in control structures like break, continue, return, and case statements for cleaner, more maintainable code.