Bash Parameters and Variables

Internal

• bash Concepts
• bash Built-In Variables

Parameters and Variables

Shell stores values internally using entities named parameters.

Parameters can be designated by a number (e.g. 1), a special character (e.g. *), or a name (e.g. blue). Parameters designated by a name are referred to as variables. The variables that have a special meaning to the shell (for example "IFS") are known as internal, keyword or built-in variables. Non-variable parameters can be further categorized in positional parameters, which are the shell's command line arguments, retrievable as $1, $2, etc. and special parameters, that are denoted by special characters.

Parameter and Variable Expansion - Accessing a Parameter's or Variable's Value

A dollar sign ($) that is NOT followed by an open parenthesis initiates parameter or variable expansion. The simplest case of expansion is retrieving the parameter or variable value: the associated value is retrieved by prefixing the parameter/variable's number, character or name with $ or enclosing it in ${...}. bash supports complex parameter expansion rules, documented here:

Parameter and Variable Expansion

Positional Parameters $1, $2, ...

A positional parameter is a parameter denoted by one or more digits, other than the single digit 0 (the single digit 0 denotes the special parameter $0).

bash allows only nine parameters to be referenced directly (n = 1–9) as in:

$1

$1 is equivalent with ${1}.

When a positional parameter consisting of more than a single digit is expanded, it must be enclosed in braces. For n values greater than 9, the command line arguments must be specified as ${n}:

${10}

Positional parameters are assigned from the shell’s arguments when it is invoked. They may not be assigned to with assignment statements, but they can be reassigned with set builtin command and they can be shifted left with the bash built-in command shift.

The positional parameters are temporarily replaced when a shell function is executed.

Iterating over Positional Paramenters

Solution 1

while [ -n "$1" ]; do
  ...
  shift
done

Solution 2

Use an Array

Special Parameters

For a list of special parameters, see:

Special Parameters

Variables

A variable is a shell parameter designated by a name, not a number or a special character. Variables can be user-created, or built-in.

Built-in Variables

The variables that have a special meaning to the shell (for example "IFS") are known as internal, keyword or built-in variables. For a list of built-in variables, see:

Built-in Variables

Variable Assignment

Variable Assignment

Unlike positional parameters and special parameters, variable can be assigned values by using the "=" character, with no spaces before or after:

blue=10

Undeclared Variable

An undeclared variable is equivalent with an empty string when referenced. There is no error when such a variable is referenced in a bash program:

echo ">${no_such_var}<" 
><

Uninitialized Variable

An uninitialized variable is equivalent with an empty string when referenced. There is no error when such a variable is referenced in a bash program:

local some_var
echo ">${some_var}<" 
><

Global Variable

Global variables are only maintained within the context of the current shell. Once the shell exits, the global variables are discarded.

The global variables declared in a shell are visible inside the functions executed within that shell and inside functions invoked from function invoked from the shell, recursively.

The value of a global variable is not available to sub-shells, unless the variable is exported, with the #export keyword.

export

export VAR=VALUE

Declaring a global variable to be exported causes the variable and its value to be copied in the environment of a sub-shell. The sub-shell gets a copy of the variable, not a reference. The sub-shell has no access to the parent process's environment whatsoever. Modifying the variable from the sub-shell does not reflect into the value of the global variable maintained by the invoking shell. When the shell sub-process terminates any changes made to its environment are lost. There is no way to modify directly the parent's environment.

Variables exported by Sub-Shells

If a sub-shell invoked from another shell exports a global variable, once the sub-shell exits, the exported variables are discarded, and the invoking shell does not sees them.

Local Variable

If a variable is declared inside a function, without any qualifier, it automatically becomes a global variable, and it is visible to the entire shell after the function execution, even after the function exits.

In order to prevent a variable declared inside of a function to become global, it must be declared as local: the local keyword designates a local variable. Local variables can only be declared inside a function.

Example:

local a=b

Local Variable Assignment and Failure

Do not do a local variable assignment from a function that may return non-zero and expect to use the return value to exit

Do not do something like this:

local a=$(do_something) || exit 1 # hoping to exit if 'do_something' returns a non-zero value

Even if do_something returns a non-zero error code, that is not detected and exit is not executed.

This is because the return value that is being tested is not generated by the command execution, but by the local a declaration, which is always successful.

Do this instead:

local a;
a=$(do_something) || exit

Listing Declared Variables

Use declare or typeset:

declare -p

A way of obtaining the value for a specific variable is:

local var_name="HISTSIZE"
declare -p | grep "declare .. ${var_name}" | sed -e 's/.*=//'

Booleans

Recommended usage pattern:

Declaration:

some_var=true

Usage:

${some_var} && echo "this will execute"

if ${some_var}; then
   echo "this will execute"
fi

Do not use:

if [ ${some_var} ]; then ...

This will always evaluate to "true" regardless of the some_var value.