upto.sh – POSIX sh function to repeat a failing command up to N times

upto.sh

# Public Domain
# Written 2020-08-21, Mike Pomraning
#
# upto N command [args...]
#
# Repeatedly execute command until successful, up to N times, returning the
# exit status of the last invocation of command.
#
upto () {
  NumAttempts=$1;
  shift;

  RetVal=0;
  while [ $NumAttempts -gt 0 ]; do
    "$@";
    RetVal=$?;
    [ $RetVal -eq 0 ] && break;
    NumAttempts=$(( $NumAttempts - 1 ));
  done

  return $RetVal;
}