hostip

function hostip()
{
    declare -i debug
    debug=0
    while [[ "$1" =~ ^-v+ ]] ; do
        verbose_arg=$1
        num_verbose=${#verbose_arg[0]}
        debug=$((debug + num_verbose - 1))
        shift
    done
    [ $debug -gt 0 ] && echo "Debug level: $debug"
    host=$1
    if [ -z "${host}" ] || [[ $host =~ ^- ]] ; then
        echo "Usage: hostip [-v] hostname"
        return 0
    fi
    output=$(host ${host})
    ip=$(echo ${output} | awk '/has address/ && $4 ~ /^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+/ { print $4 }')
    [ $debug -ge 2 ] && echo "Output of \"host ${host}\": $output"
    if [ -n "${ip}" ] ; then
        echo ${ip}
    else
        [ $debug -gt 0 ] && echo "Error: no match"
    fi
}