How to capture return code (not exit code)

Question

I have a script that execute some process and return a number based on the job status. This script is triggered on the back background.

i.e.

ksh -x myscript.sh 20150102 & 

My question is how can I get the return code of the background process? Is there a way to get return code like for exit code $?

Answer 1

Use wait:

# Start the job: ksh -x myscript.sh 20150102 & # Save its process ID job_pid=$! # Do some other stuff in the meantime asdf ghjk zxcv qwer # Later, when you want to know what its exit status was: wait $job_pid if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then echo "Something may have gone wrong" >&2 else echo "The world is perfect." >&2 fi 

In this context, I'm considering "return code" and "exit code" synonymous. If you mean the terms to have different meanings from each other then I've misunderstood you, but I can't think what the difference might be.