Questions tagged [parameter]

211 questions
143
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3 answers

How to check if there are no parameters provided to a command?

How do you check if $* is empty? In other words, how to check if there were no arguments provided to a command?
well actually
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140
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6 answers

How to pass parameters to an alias?

For bash script, I can use "$@" to access arguments. What's the equivalent when I use an alias?
prosseek
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102
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11 answers

How do I echo just 1 column of output from ls command?

Lets say when I do ls command the output is: file1 file2 file3 file4 Is it possible to display only a certain column of output, in this case file2? I have tried the following with no success: echo ls | $2 Basically all I want to do is echo only…
John
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72
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4 answers

Transform an array into arguments of a command?

I have an array of "options" of a command. my_array=(option1 option2 option3) I want to call this command in a bash script, using the values from array as options. So, command $(some magic here with my_array) "$1" becomes: command -option1 -option2…
69
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4 answers

bash iterate file list, except when empty

I thought this would be simple - but it is proving more complex than I expected. I want to iterate through all the files of a particular type in a directory, so I write this: #!/bin/bash for fname in *.zip ; do echo current file is…
symcbean
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47
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How do ${0##*/} and ${0%/*} work?

I'm quite confused about the following regular expressions I found in a shell script: ${0##*/} ${0%/*} How do they work?
user785099
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43
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4 answers

Bash: slice of positional parameters

How can I get a slice of $@ in Bash without first having to copy all positional parameters to another array like this? argv=( "$@" ) echo "${argv[@]:2}";
n.r.
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35
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2 answers

What does `:-` mean in a shell script

I saw this in the end of an awesome shell script but I can't understand the logic here because I think it's being short-handed for a longer command. spark ${@:-`cat`} This apears at the end of this script. Any ideas? + Marks for some one who…
whoami
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35
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3 answers

Correct behavior of EXIT and ERR traps when using `set -eu`

I'm observing some weird behavior when using set -e (errexit), set -u (nounset) along with ERR and EXIT traps. They seem related, so putting them into one question seems reasonable. 1) set -u does not trigger ERR traps Code: #!/bin/bash trap 'echo…
dvdgsng
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24
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2 answers

command line terminology: what are these parts of a command called?

At the command line I often use "simple" commands like mv foo/bar baz/bar but I don't know what to call all the parts of this: ┌1┐ ┌──2───┐ git checkout master │ └──────3──────┘ └───────4─────────┘ I (think I) know that 1 is a command and 2's an…
theonlygusti
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23
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1 answer

Execute command supplied by function parameters

I'm trying to create a function method in a bash script that executes a command which is supplied to the method by the paramters. Meaning somethings like this: special_execute() { # Some code # Here's the point where the command gets…
BrainStone
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3 answers

Pass an option to a makefile

Makefile my_test: ifdef $(toto) @echo 'toto is defined' else @echo 'no toto around' endif Expected behavior $ make my_test no toto around $ make my_test toto toto is defined Current behavior $ make my_test no toto around $ make…
smarber
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21
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2 answers

How to pass parameters to function in a bash script?

I'd like to write a function that I can call from a script with many different variables. For some reasons I'm having a lot of trouble doing this. Examples I've read always just use a global variable but that wouldn't make my code much more readable…
user181822
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21
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2 answers

Optional parameters in bash function

I have a function for quickly making a new SVN branch which looks like so function svcp() { svn copy "repoaddress/branch/$1.0.x" "repoaddress/branch/dev/$2" -m "dev branch for $2"; } Which I use to quickly make a new branch without having to look…
Madden
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20
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2 answers

GRUB2 and kernel vga= parameter

According to the documentation, use of the vga= kernel parameter is deprecated as of GRUB2. The fact that some newer kernels don't seem to support it anymore on certain adapters is of no concern as the graphics card I have is seven to eight years…
0xC0000022L
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