This control operator is used to check the status of last executed command. If status shows ‘0’ then command was successfully executed and if shows ‘1’ then command was a failure. The exit code of the previous command is stored in the shell variable $?.

What is the meaning of $?

$? expands to the exit status of the most recently executed foreground pipeline. … In simpler terms, it’s the exit status of the last command.

What is $? In Bash?

$? is a special variable in bash that always holds the return/exit code of the last executed command. You can view it in a terminal by running echo $? . Return codes are in the range [0; 255]. A return code of 0 usually means everything is ok.