Simple backup macro for UNIX shells

backup.sh

# Backup
# Usage:
#   backup foo bar   will make a backup of foo and bar (foo.2014-03….bak)
#   backup --rm foo  will make a backup of foo and then delete the original file
#                    (useful if you, for example, rewrite a configuration file)
# Attention:
#   This is not meant to be a substitute for VCS, or full backups. This is useful
#   while editing a sensitive resource such as a configuration file, to have a
#   fallback copy to return to.
backup()
{   
    # Whether to delete original files?
    delete=0

    # Use date as a suffix which will contain the backup creation date
    suffix=".$(date +'%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S').bak"

    # Iterate on argument array
    while [ "$1" ]; do
        if [[ "$1" == '--rm' ]]; then
            delete=1

            # Go to next argument
            shift
            continue
        fi

        name="$1"
        newname="$name$suffix"

        if [ $delete = 1 ]; then
            cmd='mv'
            # Reset so that we won't have invalid options passed to mv
            args=''
        else
            cmd='cp'
            # cp should be used with recursive copying and permission preserving
            # option
            args='-rp'
        fi

        $cmd $args "$name" "$newname"

        if [ "$?" != 0 ]; then
            echo "\e[1;31m=>\e[1;37m Failed to archivize $name\e[0m"

            return 1
        fi  
        echo "\e[1;34m=>\e[1;37m $name archivized as $newname.\e[0m"

        # Go to next argument
        shift
    done
}