I didn't solve all but enough. The script I got working looks like this: #!/bin/bash TEST=$(systemctl status licenseserver.service | grep "active (running)") LENGTH=${#TEST} NOTRUNNING=false if (($LENGTH>0)) ; then NOTRUNNING=false else NOTRUNNING=true fi echo "PA_FireActions($NOTRUNNING)" Also bash variables in PA_Details should be enclosed in quotes: echo "PA_Details(\"$TEST\")""PA_Details(\"$TEST\")"

I didn't solve all but enough. The script I got working looks like this: #!/bin/bash TEST=$(systemctl status licenseserver.service | grep "active (running)") LENGTH=${#TEST} NOTRUNNING=false if (($LENGTH>0)) ; then NOTRUNNING=false else NOTRUNNING=true fi echo "PA_FireActions($NOTRUNNING)" Also bash variables in PA_Details should be enclosed in quotes: echo "PA_Details(\"$TEST\")"