if table --warble farble; then :; else table_ec=$?; echo "Garble warble farble! :(" >&2; exit $table_ec; fi Works in dash/bash/zsh at least; not 100% sure whet

if table --warble farble; then :; else table_ec=$?; echo "Garble warble farble! :(" >&2; exit $table_ec; fi Works in dash/bash/zsh at least; not 100% sure whether the behavior of $? on the command in an if test is mandated by POSIX and/or portable. Note that you can't replace the empty then-branch with a negated condition because the negation also eats the return code. Also, absolutely correct propagation is essentially impossible (but usually not useful anyway), because some errors might be unexpected signal exits or inability to find the command in the first place, and those will get punned onto other nonzero exit codes. I forget the exact conventions OTTOMH but generally they're in the high half (≥128).