Is this allowed in an `if statement`? # optional cropping if [ "$1" == "cropit" ]; then ITS_CROP_TIME= mkdir cropped; for i in *.mp4; do ffmpeg -i "$i" -filter:v "crop=1920:980:0:-100" cropped/"${i%.*}.mp4" rm -r *.mp4 cd cropped cp -r *.mp4 ../ fi # optional cropping Am I allowed to use `ITS_CROP_TIME=` string in this way (to capture the output of the code below)? And if I now go place this variable in my script somewhere, will the commands be executed at the variable definition? What about this? Will this work? if [ "$1" == "cropit" ]; then ITS_CROP_TIME=mkdir cropped; for i in *.mp4; do ffmpeg -i "$i" -filter:v "crop=1920:980:0:-100" cropped/"${i%.*}.mp4"; rm -r *.mp4; cd cropped; cp -r *.mp4 ../ fi

#!/bin/bash
set -e
if [ "$1" == "cropit" ]; then
ITS_CROP_TIME="$(
mkdir cropped;
for i in *.mp4; do
ffmpeg -i "$i" -filter:v "crop=1920:980:0:-100" cropped/"${i%.*}.mp4"
done
rm -r ./*.mp4
cd cropped
cp -r ./*.mp4 ../
)"
fi


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