# makes the status of pipe number N (passed as first parameter) into the
# main return value (i.e., the value for $?). this is super handy to avoid
# repeating the awkward looking code below in multiple places.
# makes the status of pipe number N (passed as first parameter) into the
# main return value (i.e., the value for $?). this is super handy to avoid
# repeating the awkward looking code below in multiple places.