diff --git a/scripts/error.sh b/scripts/error.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..e6bcc087
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/error.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+error() {
+    printf "error: %s\n" "$1" 1>&2
+    # second argument is not required (defaults to 2)
+    # if second argument is provided, it must be a number,
+    # this is to assign an error code number to the exit command
+    ${2:+exit $2}
+}
+error "$@"