Example of how to use find exec calling a function.

exampleWithFindExex.sh

#/bin/bash 

export MY_EXPORTED_VAR="Boo Yeah!"
MY_NON_EXPORTED_VAR="You won't see this one!"

# This script was inspired by the answer to the question in
# http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/50692/executing-user-defined-function-in-a-find-exec-call

runFindCommand(){
  # 'myFunct "$@"' will call the function with the arguments passed into the shell
  # the reason for 'bash {} \;' is that those are positional parameters where
  # $0 is 'bash' (typically the name of the script)
  # $1 is the filepath
  find . -exec bash -c 'myFunction "$@"' bash {} \;
}

myFunction(){
  local file="$1"
  echo "I have file ${file}"
  echo "I can also access exported global variables"
  echo "  such as MY_EXPORTED_VAR=${MY_EXPORTED_VAR}"
  echo "  but not MY_NON_EXPORTED_VAR=${MY_NON_EXPORTED_VAR}"
  echo "I can access exported functions - $(anotherExportedFunction)"
  echo "But not non exported functions - $(nonExportedFunction)"
}

anotherExportedFunction(){
  echo "I can access exported functions"
}

nonExportedFunction(){
  echo "You will not be able to see this method"
}

export -f myFunction
export -f anotherExportedFunction
runFindCommand

@princefishthrower I have not found an in-memory way of communicating values from subshells. Exported global variables travel in one direction only -- parents to child process. The only way I have found to communicate data from a child process to a parent process is to write values to a file. The parent can then read that file to get an answer from a child process.

So in your case, have your myFunction increment a count in a file. Your calling parent can then read that count once the child functions finish.