pipe status return code

$ set -o pipefail
$ grep steve /etc/passwd | cut -f5 -d: --bogus-option | tr '[a-z]' '[A-Z]'
cut: unrecognized option `--bogus-option'
Try `cut --help' for more information.
$ echo $?
1

Example of using the PIPESTATUS variable, and referencing all elements of the array using ${PIPESTATUS[@]}:
$ grep steve /etc/passwd | cut -f5 -d: --bogus-option | tr '[a-z]' '[A-Z]'
cut: unrecognized option `--bogus-option'
Try `cut --help' for more information.
$ echo ${PIPESTATUS[@]}
141 1 0

Оригинал
http://phpsuxx.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-post_2624.html