I am attempting to check if an argument is an array with the following code:
if [[ $(declare -p $1) ]] != *-a*;
Here $1 is a string with the value "123". I get the following error message from bash:
`arrays.bash: line 23: declare: 123: not found
This code works if I pass an array as an argument but not a string. I want to verify that the argument is either an array or an associative array. I have no concern with the contents at this point, I only want the type. Any ideas on how to do this?
After all, why worry about the types, if you are relying on it perhaps your approach is wrong or you may need a strong-typed language
% v=1
% declare -p v
declare -- v="1"
% echo $v
1
% echo ${v[#]}
1
% v[1]=2
% declare -p v
declare -a v=([0]="1" [1]="2")
% echo ${v[#]}
1 2
The Error In The Question
You called yourfunction "$a" instead of yourfunction a, when a=123. Don't do that: You need to pass the name of the variable, not its value.
General Solution: Bash 5.x+
Bash 5 has a new feature called parameter transformation, whereby ${parameter#operator} can perform a variety of actions; one of these is checking the type of the parameter.
myfunc() {
[[ -v "$1" ]] || { echo "No variable named $1 exists" >&2; return 1; }
case ${!1#a} in
*a*) echo "Array";;
*A*) echo "Associative array";;
*i*) echo "Integer";;
"") echo "Default string";;
*) echo "Other/unknown flag set: ${!1#a}";;
esac
}
Older Solution
myfunc() {
local typedesc
typedesc=$(declare -p "$1" 2>/dev/null) || {
echo "No variable named $1 is set" >&2
return 1
}
case $typedesc in
"declare -a"*) echo "Array";;
"declare -A"*) echo "Associative array";;
"declare -i"*) echo "Integer";;
"declare --"*) echo "Regular (default) string variable";;
*) echo "Other/unrecognized type";;
esac
}
Related
I have an array of variables. I want to check if the variables have a value using the for loop.
I am getting the values into loop but the if condition is failing
function check {
arr=("$#")
for var in "${arr[#]}"; do
if [ -z $var ] ; then
echo $var "is not available"
else
echo $var "is available"
fi
done
}
name="abc"
city="xyz"
arr=(name city state country)
check ${arr[#]}
For the above I am getting all as available
Expected output is
name is available
city is available
state is not available
country is not available
This is the correct syntax for your task
if [ -z "${!var}" ] ; then
echo $var "is not available"
else
echo $var "is available"
fi
Explanation, this method uses an indirect variable expansion, this construction ${!var} will expand as value of variable which name is in $var.
Changed check function a bit
check () {
for var in "$#"; do
[[ "${!var}" ]] && not= || not="not "
echo "$var is ${not}available"
done
}
And another variant using declare
check () {
for var in "$#"; do
declare -p $var &> /dev/null && not= || not="not "
echo "$var is ${not}available"
done
}
From declare help
$ declare --help
declare: declare [-aAfFgilnrtux] [-p] [name[=value] ...]
Set variable values and attributes.
Declare variables and give them attributes. If no NAMEs are given,
display the attributes and values of all variables.
...
-p display the attributes and value of each NAME
...
Actually all vars can be checked at once using this
check () {
declare -p $# 2>&1 | sed 's/.* \(.*\)=.*/\1 is available/;s/.*declare: \(.*\):.*/\1 is not available/'
}
While indirection is a possible solution, it is not really recommended to use. A safer way would be to use an associative array:
function check {
eval "declare -A arr="${1#*=}
shift
for var in "$#"; do
if [ -z "${arr[$var]}" ] ; then
echo $var "is not available"
else
echo $var "is available"
fi
done
}
declare -A list
list[name]="abc"
list[city]="xyz"
check "$(declare -p list)" name city state country
This returns:
name is available
city is available
state is not available
country is not available
The following question was used to create this answer:
How to rename an associative array in Bash?
Using:
set -o nounset
Having an indexed array like:
myArray=( "red" "black" "blue" )
What is the shortest way to check if element 1 is set?
I sometimes use the following:
test "${#myArray[#]}" -gt "1" && echo "1 exists" || echo "1 doesn't exist"
I would like to know if there's a preferred one.
How to deal with non-consecutive indexes?
myArray=()
myArray[12]="red"
myArray[51]="black"
myArray[129]="blue"
How to quick check that 51 is already set for example?
How to deal with associative arrays?
declare -A myArray
myArray["key1"]="red"
myArray["key2"]="black"
myArray["key3"]="blue"
How to quick check that key2 is already used for example?
To check if the element is set (applies to both indexed and associative array)
[ "${array[key]+abc}" ] && echo "exists"
Basically what ${array[key]+abc} does is
if array[key] is set, return abc
if array[key] is not set, return nothing
References:
See Parameter Expansion in Bash manual and the little note
if the colon is omitted, the operator tests only for existence [of parameter]
This answer is actually adapted from the answers for this SO question: How to tell if a string is not defined in a bash shell script?
A wrapper function:
exists(){
if [ "$2" != in ]; then
echo "Incorrect usage."
echo "Correct usage: exists {key} in {array}"
return
fi
eval '[ ${'$3'[$1]+muahaha} ]'
}
For example
if ! exists key in array; then echo "No such array element"; fi
From man bash, conditional expressions:
-v varname
True if the shell variable varname is set (has been assigned a value).
example:
declare -A foo
foo[bar]="this is bar"
foo[baz]=""
if [[ -v "foo[bar]" ]] ; then
echo "foo[bar] is set"
fi
if [[ -v "foo[baz]" ]] ; then
echo "foo[baz] is set"
fi
if [[ -v "foo[quux]" ]] ; then
echo "foo[quux] is set"
fi
This will show that both foo[bar] and foo[baz] are set (even though the latter is set to an empty value) and foo[quux] is not.
New answer
From version 4.2 of bash (and newer), there is a new -v option to built-in test command.
From version 4.3, this test could address element of arrays.
array=([12]="red" [51]="black" [129]="blue")
for i in 10 12 30 {50..52} {128..131};do
if [ -v 'array[i]' ];then
echo "Variable 'array[$i]' is defined"
else
echo "Variable 'array[$i]' not exist"
fi
done
Variable 'array[10]' not exist
Variable 'array[12]' is defined
Variable 'array[30]' not exist
Variable 'array[50]' not exist
Variable 'array[51]' is defined
Variable 'array[52]' not exist
Variable 'array[128]' not exist
Variable 'array[129]' is defined
Variable 'array[130]' not exist
Variable 'array[131]' not exist
Note: regarding ssc's comment, I've single quoted 'array[i]' in -v test, in order to satisfy shellcheck's error SC2208. This seem not really required here, because there is no glob character in array[i], anyway...
This work with associative arrays in same way:
declare -A aArray=([foo]="bar" [bar]="baz" [baz]=$'Hello world\041')
for i in alpha bar baz dummy foo test;do
if [ -v 'aArray[$i]' ];then
echo "Variable 'aArray[$i]' is defined"
else
echo "Variable 'aArray[$i]' not exist"
fi
done
Variable 'aArray[alpha]' not exist
Variable 'aArray[bar]' is defined
Variable 'aArray[baz]' is defined
Variable 'aArray[dummy]' not exist
Variable 'aArray[foo]' is defined
Variable 'aArray[test]' not exist
With a little difference:In regular arrays, variable between brackets ([i]) is integer, so dollar symbol ($) is not required, but for associative array, as key is a word, $ is required ([$i])!
Old answer for bash prior to V4.2
Unfortunately, bash give no way to make difference betwen empty and undefined variable.
But there is some ways:
$ array=()
$ array[12]="red"
$ array[51]="black"
$ array[129]="blue"
$ echo ${array[#]}
red black blue
$ echo ${!array[#]}
12 51 129
$ echo "${#array[#]}"
3
$ printf "%s\n" ${!array[#]}|grep -q ^51$ && echo 51 exist
51 exist
$ printf "%s\n" ${!array[#]}|grep -q ^52$ && echo 52 exist
(give no answer)
And for associative array, you could use the same:
$ unset array
$ declare -A array
$ array["key1"]="red"
$ array["key2"]="black"
$ array["key3"]="blue"
$ echo ${array[#]}
blue black red
$ echo ${!array[#]}
key3 key2 key1
$ echo ${#array[#]}
3
$ set | grep ^array=
array=([key3]="blue" [key2]="black" [key1]="red" )
$ printf "%s\n" ${!array[#]}|grep -q ^key2$ && echo key2 exist || echo key2 not exist
key2 exist
$ printf "%s\n" ${!array[#]}|grep -q ^key5$ && echo key5 exist || echo key5 not exist
key5 not exist
You could do the job without the need of externals tools (no printf|grep as pure bash), and why not, build checkIfExist() as a new bash function:
$ checkIfExist() {
eval 'local keys=${!'$1'[#]}';
eval "case '$2' in
${keys// /|}) return 0 ;;
* ) return 1 ;;
esac";
}
$ checkIfExist array key2 && echo exist || echo don\'t
exist
$ checkIfExist array key5 && echo exist || echo don\'t
don't
or even create a new getIfExist bash function that return the desired value and exit with false result-code if desired value not exist:
$ getIfExist() {
eval 'local keys=${!'$1'[#]}';
eval "case '$2' in
${keys// /|}) echo \${$1[$2]};return 0 ;;
* ) return 1 ;;
esac";
}
$ getIfExist array key1
red
$ echo $?
0
$ # now with an empty defined value
$ array["key4"]=""
$ getIfExist array key4
$ echo $?
0
$ getIfExist array key5
$ echo $?
1
What about a -n test and the :- operator?
For example, this script:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -e
set -u
declare -A sample
sample["ABC"]=2
sample["DEF"]=3
if [[ -n "${sample['ABC']:-}" ]]; then
echo "ABC is set"
fi
if [[ -n "${sample['DEF']:-}" ]]; then
echo "DEF is set"
fi
if [[ -n "${sample['GHI']:-}" ]]; then
echo "GHI is set"
fi
Prints:
ABC is set
DEF is set
tested in bash 4.3.39(1)-release
declare -A fmap
fmap['foo']="boo"
key='foo'
# should echo foo is set to 'boo'
if [[ -z "${fmap[${key}]}" ]]; then echo "$key is unset in fmap"; else echo "${key} is set to '${fmap[${key}]}'"; fi
key='blah'
# should echo blah is unset in fmap
if [[ -z "${fmap[${key}]}" ]]; then echo "$key is unset in fmap"; else echo "${key} is set to '${fmap[${key}]}'"; fi
Reiterating this from Thamme:
[[ ${array[key]+Y} ]] && echo Y || echo N
This tests if the variable/array element exists, including if it is set to a null value. This works with a wider range of bash versions than -v and doesn't appear sensitive to things like set -u. If you see a "bad array subscript" using this method please post an example.
This is the easiest way I found for scripts.
<search> is the string you want to find, ASSOC_ARRAY the name of the variable holding your associative array.
Dependign on what you want to achieve:
key exists:
if grep -qe "<search>" <(echo "${!ASSOC_ARRAY[#]}"); then echo key is present; fi
key exists not:
if ! grep -qe "<search>" <(echo "${!ASSOC_ARRAY[#]}"); then echo key not present; fi
value exists:
if grep -qe "<search>" <(echo "${ASSOC_ARRAY[#]}"); then echo value is present; fi
value exists not:
if ! grep -qe "<search>" <(echo "${ASSOC_ARRAY[#]}"); then echo value not present; fi
I wrote a function to check if a key exists in an array in Bash:
# Check if array key exists
# Usage: array_key_exists $array_name $key
# Returns: 0 = key exists, 1 = key does NOT exist
function array_key_exists() {
local _array_name="$1"
local _key="$2"
local _cmd='echo ${!'$_array_name'[#]}'
local _array_keys=($(eval $_cmd))
local _key_exists=$(echo " ${_array_keys[#]} " | grep " $_key " &>/dev/null; echo $?)
[[ "$_key_exists" = "0" ]] && return 0 || return 1
}
Example
declare -A my_array
my_array['foo']="bar"
if [[ "$(array_key_exists 'my_array' 'foo'; echo $?)" = "0" ]]; then
echo "OK"
else
echo "ERROR"
fi
Tested with GNU bash, version 4.1.5(1)-release (i486-pc-linux-gnu)
For all time people, once and for all.
There's a "clean code" long way, and there is a shorter, more concise, bash centered way.
$1 = The index or key you are looking for.
$2 = The array / map passed in by reference.
function hasKey ()
{
local -r needle="${1:?}"
local -nr haystack=${2:?}
for key in "${!haystack[#]}"; do
if [[ $key == $needle ]] ;
return 0
fi
done
return 1
}
A linear search can be replaced by a binary search, which would perform better with larger data sets. Simply count and sort the keys first, then do a classic binary halving of of the haystack as you get closer and closer to the answer.
Now, for the purist out there that is like "No, I want the more performant version because I may have to deal with large arrays in bash," lets look at a more bash centered solution, but one that maintains clean code and the flexibility to deal with arrays or maps.
function hasKey ()
{
local -r needle="${1:?}"
local -nr haystack=${2:?}
[ -n ${haystack["$needle"]+found} ]
}
The line [ -n ${haystack["$needle"]+found} ]uses the ${parameter+word} form of bash variable expansion, not the ${parameter:+word} form, which attempts to test the value of a key, too, which is not the matter at hand.
Usage
local -A person=(firstname Anthony lastname Rutledge)
if hasMapKey "firstname" person; then
# Do something
fi
When not performing substring expansion, using the form described
below (e.g., ‘:-’), Bash tests for a parameter that is unset or null.
Omitting the colon results in a test only for a parameter that is
unset. Put another way, if the colon is included, the operator tests
for both parameter’s existence and that its value is not null; if the
colon is omitted, the operator tests only for existence.
${parameter:-word}
If parameter is unset or null, the expansion of word is substituted. Otherwise, the value of parameter is substituted.
${parameter:=word}
If parameter is unset or null, the expansion of word is assigned to parameter. The value of parameter is then substituted. Positional
parameters and special parameters may not be assigned to in this way.
${parameter:?word}
If parameter is null or unset, the expansion of word (or a message to that effect if word is not present) is written to the standard
error and the shell, if it is not interactive, exits. Otherwise, the
value of parameter is substituted. ${parameter:+word}
If parameter is null or unset, nothing is substituted, otherwise the expansion of word is substituted.
https://www.gnu.org/savannah-checkouts/gnu/bash/manual/bash.html#Shell-Parameter-Expansion
If $needle does not exist expand to nothing, otherwise expand to the non-zero length string, "found". This will make the -n test succeed if the $needle in fact does exist (as I say "found"), and fail otherwise.
Both in the case of arrays and hash maps I find the easiest and more straightforward solution is to use the matching operator =~.
For arrays:
myArray=("red" "black" "blue")
if [[ " ${myArray[#]} " =~ " blue " ]]; then
echo "blue exists in myArray"
else
echo "blue does not exist in myArray"
fi
NOTE: The spaces around the array guarantee the first and last element can match. The spaces around the value guarantee an exact match.
For hash maps, it's actually the same solution since printing a hash map as a string gives you a list of its values.
declare -A myMap
myMap=(
["key1"]="red"
["key2"]="black"
["key3"]="blue"
)
if [[ " ${myMap[#]} " =~ " blue " ]]; then
echo "blue exists in myMap"
else
echo "blue does not exist in myMap"
fi
But what if you would like to check whether a key exists in a hash map? In the case you can use the ! operator which gives you the list of keys in a hash map.
if [[ " ${!myMap[#]} " =~ " key3 " ]]; then
echo "key3 exists in myMap"
else
echo "key3 does not exist in myMap"
fi
I get bad array subscript error when the key I'm checking is not set. So, I wrote a function that loops over the keys:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
declare -A helpList
function get_help(){
target="$1"
for key in "${!helpList[#]}";do
if [[ "$key" == "$target" ]];then
echo "${helpList["$target"]}"
return;
fi
done
}
targetValue="$(get_help command_name)"
if [[ -z "$targetvalue" ]];then
echo "command_name is not set"
fi
It echos the value when it is found & echos nothing when not found. All the other solutions I tried gave me that error.
This question already has answers here:
Dynamic variable names in Bash
(19 answers)
How to use a variable's value as another variable's name in bash [duplicate]
(6 answers)
Closed 5 years ago.
In my bash scripts, I often prompt users for y/n answers. Since I often use this several times in a single script, I'd like to have a function that checks if the user input is some variant of Yes / No, and then cleans this answer to "y" or "n". Something like this:
yesno(){
temp=""
if [[ "$1" =~ ^([Yy](es|ES)?|[Nn][Oo]?)$ ]] ; then
temp=$(echo "$1" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]' | sed 's/es//g' | sed 's/no//g')
break
else
echo "$1 is not a valid answer."
fi
}
I then would like to use the function as follows:
while read -p "Do you want to do this? " confirm; do # Here the user types "YES"
yesno $confirm
done
if [[ $confirm == "y" ]]; then
[do something]
fi
Basically, I want to change the value of the first argument to the value of $confirm, so that when I exit the yesno function, $confirm is either "y" or "n".
I tried using set -- "$temp" within the yesnofunction, but I can't get it to work.
You could do it by outputting the new value and overwriting the variable in the caller.
yesno() {
if [[ "$1" =~ ^([Yy](es|ES)?|[Nn][Oo]?)$ ]] ; then
local answer=${1,,}
echo "${answer::1}"
else
echo "$1 is not a valid answer." >&2
echo "$1" # output the original value
return 1 # indicate failure in case the caller cares
fi
}
confirm=$(yesno "$confirm")
However, I'd recommend a more direct approach: have the function do the prompting and looping. Move all of that repeated logic inside. Then the call site is super simple.
confirm() {
local prompt=$1
local reply
while true; do
read -p "$prompt" reply
case ${reply,,} in
y*) return 0;;
n*) return 1;;
*) echo "$reply is not a valid answer." >&2;;
esac
done
}
if confirm "Do you want to do this? "; then
# Do it.
else
# Don't do it.
fi
(${reply,,} is a bash-ism that converts $reply to lowercase.)
You could use the nameref attribute of Bash (requires Bash 4.3 or newer) as follows:
#!/bin/bash
yesno () {
# Declare arg as reference to argument provided
declare -n arg=$1
local re1='(y)(es)?'
local re2='(n)o?'
# Set to empty and return if no regex matches
[[ ${arg,,} =~ $re1 ]] || [[ ${arg,,} =~ $re2 ]] || { arg= && return; }
# Assign "y" or "n" to reference
arg=${BASH_REMATCH[1]}
}
while read -p "Prompt: " confirm; do
yesno confirm
echo "$confirm"
done
A sample test run looks like this:
Prompt: YES
y
Prompt: nOoOoOo
n
Prompt: abc
Prompt:
The expressions are anchored at the start, so yessss etc. all count as well. If this is not desired, an end anchor ($) can be added.
If neither expression matches, the string is set to empty.
I wrote a bash script that takes a command as the first positional parameter and uses a case construct as a dispatch similar to the following:
do_command() {
# responds to invocation `$0 command ...`
}
do_copy() {
# respond to invocation: `$0 copy...`
}
do_imperative() {
# respond to invocation: `$0 imperative ...`
}
cmd=$1
shift
case $cmd in
command)
do_command $*
;;
copy)
do_copy $*
;;
imperative)
do_imperative $*
;;
*)
echo "Usage: $0 [ command | copy | imperative ]" >&2
;;
esac
This script decides what function to call based on $1 and then passes the remaining arguments to that function. I would like to add the ability dispatch on distinct partial matches, but I want to do it in an elegant way (elegant defined as a way that is both easy to read and is not so verbose as to be an eyesore or a distraction).
The obvious functioning (but not elegant) solution might be something like this:
case $cmd in
command|comman|comma|comm|com)
do_command $*
;;
copy|cop)
do_copy $*
;;
imperative|imperativ|imperati|imperat|impera|imper|impe|imp|im|i)
do_imperative $*
;;
*)
echo "Usage: $0 [ command | copy | imperative ]" >&2
;;
esac
As you can see, explicitly enumerating all distinct permutations of each command name can get really messy.
For a moment, I thought it might be alright to use a wildcard match like this:
case $cmd in
com*)
do_command $*
;;
cop*)
do_copy $*
;;
i*)
do_imperative $*
;;
*)
echo "Usage: $0 [ command | copy | imperative ]" >&2
;;
esac
This is less of an eyesore. However, this could result in undesirable behavior such as where do_command is called when $1 is given as "comblah" or something else that shouldn't be recognized as a valid argument.
My question is: What is the most elegant (as defined above) way to correctly dispatch such a command where the user can provide any distinct truncated form of the expected commands?
I came up with the following solution, which should work with any
bourne-compatible shell:
disambiguate() {
option="$1"
shift
found=""
all=""
comma=""
for candidate in "$#"; do
case "$candidate" in
"$option"*)
found="$candidate"
all="$all$comma$candidate"
comma=", "
esac
done
if [ -z "$found" ] ; then
echo "Unknown option $option: should be one of $#" >&2
return 1;
fi
if [ "$all" = "$found" ] ; then
echo "$found"
else
echo "Ambigious option $option: may be $all" >&2
return 1
fi
}
foo=$(disambiguate "$1" lorem ipsum dolor dollar)
if [ -z "$foo" ] ; then exit 1; fi
echo "$foo"
Yes, the source code of disambiguate is not pretty, but I hope you
won't have to look at this code most of the time.
Pattern Matching for Command Dispatch in Bash
It seems that a few of you like the idea of using a resolver to find the full command match prior to the dispatching logic. That's might just be the best way to go for large command sets or sets that have long words. I put together the following hacked up mess--it makes 2 passes using built-in parameter expansion substring removal. I seems to work well enough and it keeps the dispatch logic clean of the distraction of resolving partial commands. My bash version is 4.1.5.
#!/bin/bash
resolve_cmd() {
local given=$1
shift
local list=($*)
local inv=(${list[*]##${given}*})
local OIFS=$IFS; IFS='|'; local pat="${inv[*]}"; IFS=$OIFS
shopt -s extglob
echo "${list[*]##+($pat)}"
shopt -u extglob
}
valid_cmds="start stop status command copy imperative empathy emperor"
m=($(resolve_cmd $1 $valid_cmds))
if [ ${#m[*]} -gt 1 ]; then
echo "$1 is ambiguous, possible matches: ${m[*]}" >&2
exit 1
elif [ ${#m[*]} -lt 1 ]; then
echo "$1 is not a recognized command." >&2
exit 1
fi
echo "Matched command: $m"
Update 1:
match is called using (partial) command as first positional parameter, followed by strings to test against. On multiple matches, each partial match will be hinted with uppercase.
# #pos 1 string
# #pos 2+ strings to compare against
# #ret true on one match, false on none|disambiguate match
match() {
local w input="${1,,}" disa=();
local len=${#input}; # needed for uppercase hints
shift;
for w in $*; do
[[ "$input" == "$w" ]] && return 0;
[[ "$w" == "$input"* ]] && disa+=($w);
done
if ! (( ${#disa[*]} == 1 )); then
printf "Matches: "
for w in ${disa[*]}; do
printf "$( echo "${w:0:$len}" | tr '[:lower:]' '[:upper:]')${w:${len}} ";
done
echo "";
return 1;
fi
return 0;
}
Example of usage. match can be tweaked to print/return the whole non disambiguate command, otherwise do_something_with would require some logic to resolve partial commands. (something like my first answer)
cmds="start stop status command copy imperative empathy emperor"
while true; do
read -p"> " cmd
test -z "$cmd" && exit 1;
match $cmd $cmds && do_something_with "$cmd";
done
First answer: Case approach; would require some logic before use, to solve disambiguate partial matches.
#!/bin/bash
# script.sh
# set extended globbing, in most shells it's not set by default
shopt -s extglob;
do_imperative() {
echo $*;
}
case $1 in
i?(m?(p?(e?(r?(a?(t?(i?(v?(e))))))))))
shift;
do_imperative $*;
;;
*)
echo "Error: no match on $1";
exit 1;
;;
esac
exit 0;
i, im, imp up till imperative will match. The shift will set second positional parameter as first, meaning; if the script is called as:
./script.sh imp say hello
will resolve into
do_imperative say hello
If you wish to further resolve short hand commands, use the same approach within the functions as well.
Here's a simple (possibly even elegant) solution which will only work with bash, because it relies on the bash-specific compgen command.
This version assumes that the action functions are always called do_X where X is the command name. Before calling this function, you need to set $commands to a space-separated list of legal commands; the assumption is that legal commands will be simple words, since function names cannot include special characters.
doit () {
# Do nothing if there is no command
if (( ! $# )); then return 0; fi;
local cmd=$1
shift
local -a options=($(compgen -W "$commands" "$cmd"));
case ${#options[#]} in
0)
printf "Unrecognized command '%b'\n" "$cmd" >> /dev/stderr;
return 1
;;
1)
# Assume that the action functions all have a consistent name
"do_$options" "$#"
;;
*)
printf "Ambigous command '%b'. Possible completions:" "$cmd";
printf " %s" "${options[#]}";
printf "\n";
return 1
;;
esac
}
do_command () { printf "command %s\n" "$#"; }
do_copy () { printf "copy %s\n" "$#"; }
do_imperative () { printf "imperative %s\n" "$#"; }
commands="command copy imperative"
Trial run:
$ doit cop a "b c"
copy a
copy b c
$ doit comfoo a "b c"
Unrecognized command 'comfoo'
$ doit co a "b c"
Ambigous command 'co'. Possible completions: command copy
$ doit i a "b c"
If you were confident that there were no stray do_X variables available, you could use compgen to make the list of commands as well:
command=$(compgen -Afunction do_ | cut -c4-)
Alternatively, you could use the same system to make a resolver, and then handle the returned option with a normal case statement:
# resolve cmd possible-commands
resolve () {
# Fail silently if there is no command
if [[ -z $1 ]]; then return 1; fi;
local cmd=$1
shift
local commands="$*"
local -a options=($(compgen -W "$commands" "$cmd"));
case ${#options[#]} in
0)
printf "Unrecognized command '%b'\n" "$cmd" >> /dev/stderr;
return 1
;;
1)
echo $options
return 0
;;
*)
printf "Ambigous command '%b'. Possible completions:" "$cmd";
printf " %s" "${options[#]}";
printf "\n";
return 1
;;
esac
}
$ resolve com command copy imperative && echo OK
command
OK
$ resolve co command copy imperative && echo OK
Ambigous command 'co'. Possible completions: command copy
$ resolve copx command copy imperative && echo OK
Unrecognized command 'copx'
The intent would be to write something like:
cmd=$(resolve "$1" "$commands") || exit 1
case "$cmd" in
command)
# ...
I know that I can easily get positioned parameters like this in bash:
$0 or $1
I want to be able to use flag options like this to specify for what each parameter is used:
mysql -u user -h host
What is the best way to get -u param value and -h param value by flag instead of by position?
This example uses Bash's built-in getopts command and is from the Google Shell Style Guide:
a_flag=''
b_flag=''
files=''
verbose='false'
print_usage() {
printf "Usage: ..."
}
while getopts 'abf:v' flag; do
case "${flag}" in
a) a_flag='true' ;;
b) b_flag='true' ;;
f) files="${OPTARG}" ;;
v) verbose='true' ;;
*) print_usage
exit 1 ;;
esac
done
Note: If a character is followed by a colon (e.g. f:), that option is expected to have an argument.
Example usage: ./script -v -a -b -f filename
Using getopts has several advantages over the accepted answer:
the while condition is a lot more readable and shows what the accepted options are
cleaner code; no counting the number of parameters and shifting
you can join options (e.g. -a -b -c → -abc)
However, a big disadvantage is that it doesn't support long options, only single-character options.
This is the idiom I usually use:
while test $# -gt 0; do
case "$1" in
-h|--help)
echo "$package - attempt to capture frames"
echo " "
echo "$package [options] application [arguments]"
echo " "
echo "options:"
echo "-h, --help show brief help"
echo "-a, --action=ACTION specify an action to use"
echo "-o, --output-dir=DIR specify a directory to store output in"
exit 0
;;
-a)
shift
if test $# -gt 0; then
export PROCESS=$1
else
echo "no process specified"
exit 1
fi
shift
;;
--action*)
export PROCESS=`echo $1 | sed -e 's/^[^=]*=//g'`
shift
;;
-o)
shift
if test $# -gt 0; then
export OUTPUT=$1
else
echo "no output dir specified"
exit 1
fi
shift
;;
--output-dir*)
export OUTPUT=`echo $1 | sed -e 's/^[^=]*=//g'`
shift
;;
*)
break
;;
esac
done
Key points are:
$# is the number of arguments
while loop looks at all the arguments supplied, matching on their values inside a case statement
shift takes the first one away. You can shift multiple times inside of a case statement to take multiple values.
getopt is your friend.. a simple example:
function f () {
TEMP=`getopt --long -o "u:h:" "$#"`
eval set -- "$TEMP"
while true ; do
case "$1" in
-u )
user=$2
shift 2
;;
-h )
host=$2
shift 2
;;
*)
break
;;
esac
done;
echo "user = $user, host = $host"
}
f -u myself -h some_host
There should be various examples in your /usr/bin directory.
I propose a simple TLDR:; example for the un-initiated.
Create a bash script called greeter.sh
#!/bin/bash
while getopts "n:" arg; do
case $arg in
n) Name=$OPTARG;;
esac
done
echo "Hello $Name!"
You can then pass an optional parameter -n when executing the script.
Execute the script as such:
$ bash greeter.sh -n 'Bob'
Output
$ Hello Bob!
Notes
If you'd like to use multiple parameters:
extend while getops "n:" arg: do with more paramaters such as
while getops "n:o:p:" arg: do
extend the case switch with extra variable assignments. Such as o) Option=$OPTARG and p) Parameter=$OPTARG
To make the script executable:
chmod u+x greeter.sh
I think this would serve as a simpler example of what you want to achieve. There is no need to use external tools. Bash built in tools can do the job for you.
function DOSOMETHING {
while test $# -gt 0; do
case "$1" in
-first)
shift
first_argument=$1
shift
;;
-last)
shift
last_argument=$1
shift
;;
*)
echo "$1 is not a recognized flag!"
return 1;
;;
esac
done
echo "First argument : $first_argument";
echo "Last argument : $last_argument";
}
This will allow you to use flags so no matter which order you are passing the parameters you will get the proper behavior.
Example :
DOSOMETHING -last "Adios" -first "Hola"
Output :
First argument : Hola
Last argument : Adios
You can add this function to your profile or put it inside of a script.
Thanks!
Edit :
Save this as a a file and then execute it as yourfile.sh -last "Adios" -first "Hola"
#!/bin/bash
while test $# -gt 0; do
case "$1" in
-first)
shift
first_argument=$1
shift
;;
-last)
shift
last_argument=$1
shift
;;
*)
echo "$1 is not a recognized flag!"
return 1;
;;
esac
done
echo "First argument : $first_argument";
echo "Last argument : $last_argument";
Another alternative would be to use something like the below example which would allow you to use long --image or short -i tags and also allow compiled -i="example.jpg" or separate -i example.jpg methods of passing in arguments.
# declaring a couple of associative arrays
declare -A arguments=();
declare -A variables=();
# declaring an index integer
declare -i index=1;
# any variables you want to use here
# on the left left side is argument label or key (entered at the command line along with it's value)
# on the right side is the variable name the value of these arguments should be mapped to.
# (the examples above show how these are being passed into this script)
variables["-gu"]="git_user";
variables["--git-user"]="git_user";
variables["-gb"]="git_branch";
variables["--git-branch"]="git_branch";
variables["-dbr"]="db_fqdn";
variables["--db-redirect"]="db_fqdn";
variables["-e"]="environment";
variables["--environment"]="environment";
# $# here represents all arguments passed in
for i in "$#"
do
arguments[$index]=$i;
prev_index="$(expr $index - 1)";
# this if block does something akin to "where $i contains ="
# "%=*" here strips out everything from the = to the end of the argument leaving only the label
if [[ $i == *"="* ]]
then argument_label=${i%=*}
else argument_label=${arguments[$prev_index]}
fi
# this if block only evaluates to true if the argument label exists in the variables array
if [[ -n ${variables[$argument_label]} ]]
then
# dynamically creating variables names using declare
# "#$argument_label=" here strips out the label leaving only the value
if [[ $i == *"="* ]]
then declare ${variables[$argument_label]}=${i#$argument_label=}
else declare ${variables[$argument_label]}=${arguments[$index]}
fi
fi
index=index+1;
done;
# then you could simply use the variables like so:
echo "$git_user";
I like Robert McMahan's answer the best here as it seems the easiest to make into sharable include files for any of your scripts to use. But it seems to have a flaw with the line if [[ -n ${variables[$argument_label]} ]] throwing the message, "variables: bad array subscript". I don't have the rep to comment, and I doubt this is the proper 'fix,' but wrapping that if in if [[ -n $argument_label ]] ; then cleans it up.
Here's the code I ended up with, if you know a better way please add a comment to Robert's answer.
Include File "flags-declares.sh"
# declaring a couple of associative arrays
declare -A arguments=();
declare -A variables=();
# declaring an index integer
declare -i index=1;
Include File "flags-arguments.sh"
# $# here represents all arguments passed in
for i in "$#"
do
arguments[$index]=$i;
prev_index="$(expr $index - 1)";
# this if block does something akin to "where $i contains ="
# "%=*" here strips out everything from the = to the end of the argument leaving only the label
if [[ $i == *"="* ]]
then argument_label=${i%=*}
else argument_label=${arguments[$prev_index]}
fi
if [[ -n $argument_label ]] ; then
# this if block only evaluates to true if the argument label exists in the variables array
if [[ -n ${variables[$argument_label]} ]] ; then
# dynamically creating variables names using declare
# "#$argument_label=" here strips out the label leaving only the value
if [[ $i == *"="* ]]
then declare ${variables[$argument_label]}=${i#$argument_label=}
else declare ${variables[$argument_label]}=${arguments[$index]}
fi
fi
fi
index=index+1;
done;
Your "script.sh"
. bin/includes/flags-declares.sh
# any variables you want to use here
# on the left left side is argument label or key (entered at the command line along with it's value)
# on the right side is the variable name the value of these arguments should be mapped to.
# (the examples above show how these are being passed into this script)
variables["-gu"]="git_user";
variables["--git-user"]="git_user";
variables["-gb"]="git_branch";
variables["--git-branch"]="git_branch";
variables["-dbr"]="db_fqdn";
variables["--db-redirect"]="db_fqdn";
variables["-e"]="environment";
variables["--environment"]="environment";
. bin/includes/flags-arguments.sh
# then you could simply use the variables like so:
echo "$git_user";
echo "$git_branch";
echo "$db_fqdn";
echo "$environment";
#!/bin/bash
if getopts "n:" arg; then
echo "Welcome $OPTARG"
fi
Save it as sample.sh
and try running
sh sample.sh -n John
in your terminal.
If you're familiar with Python argparse, and don't mind calling python to parse bash arguments, there is a piece of code I found really helpful and super easy to use called argparse-bash
https://github.com/nhoffman/argparse-bash
Example take from their example.sh script:
#!/bin/bash
source $(dirname $0)/argparse.bash || exit 1
argparse "$#" <<EOF || exit 1
parser.add_argument('infile')
parser.add_argument('outfile')
parser.add_argument('-a', '--the-answer', default=42, type=int,
help='Pick a number [default %(default)s]')
parser.add_argument('-d', '--do-the-thing', action='store_true',
default=False, help='store a boolean [default %(default)s]')
parser.add_argument('-m', '--multiple', nargs='+',
help='multiple values allowed')
EOF
echo required infile: "$INFILE"
echo required outfile: "$OUTFILE"
echo the answer: "$THE_ANSWER"
echo -n do the thing?
if [[ $DO_THE_THING ]]; then
echo " yes, do it"
else
echo " no, do not do it"
fi
echo -n "arg with multiple values: "
for a in "${MULTIPLE[#]}"; do
echo -n "[$a] "
done
echo
I had trouble using getopts with multiple flags, so I wrote this code. It uses a modal variable to detect flags, and to use those flags to assign arguments to variables.
Note that, if a flag shouldn't have an argument, something other than setting CURRENTFLAG can be done.
for MYFIELD in "$#"; do
CHECKFIRST=`echo $MYFIELD | cut -c1`
if [ "$CHECKFIRST" == "-" ]; then
mode="flag"
else
mode="arg"
fi
if [ "$mode" == "flag" ]; then
case $MYFIELD in
-a)
CURRENTFLAG="VARIABLE_A"
;;
-b)
CURRENTFLAG="VARIABLE_B"
;;
-c)
CURRENTFLAG="VARIABLE_C"
;;
esac
elif [ "$mode" == "arg" ]; then
case $CURRENTFLAG in
VARIABLE_A)
VARIABLE_A="$MYFIELD"
;;
VARIABLE_B)
VARIABLE_B="$MYFIELD"
;;
VARIABLE_C)
VARIABLE_C="$MYFIELD"
;;
esac
fi
done
So here it is my solution. I wanted to be able to handle boolean flags without hyphen, with one hyphen, and with two hyphen as well as parameter/value assignment with one and two hyphens.
# Handle multiple types of arguments and prints some variables
#
# Boolean flags
# 1) No hyphen
# create Assigns `true` to the variable `CREATE`.
# Default is `CREATE_DEFAULT`.
# delete Assigns true to the variable `DELETE`.
# Default is `DELETE_DEFAULT`.
# 2) One hyphen
# a Assigns `true` to a. Default is `false`.
# b Assigns `true` to b. Default is `false`.
# 3) Two hyphens
# cats Assigns `true` to `cats`. By default is not set.
# dogs Assigns `true` to `cats`. By default is not set.
#
# Parameter - Value
# 1) One hyphen
# c Assign any value you want
# d Assign any value you want
#
# 2) Two hyphens
# ... Anything really, whatever two-hyphen argument is given that is not
# defined as flag, will be defined with the next argument after it.
#
# Example:
# ./parser_example.sh delete -a -c VA_1 --cats --dir /path/to/dir
parser() {
# Define arguments with one hyphen that are boolean flags
HYPHEN_FLAGS="a b"
# Define arguments with two hyphens that are boolean flags
DHYPHEN_FLAGS="cats dogs"
# Iterate over all the arguments
while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
# Handle the arguments with no hyphen
if [[ $1 != "-"* ]]; then
echo "Argument with no hyphen!"
echo $1
# Assign true to argument $1
declare $1=true
# Shift arguments by one to the left
shift
# Handle the arguments with one hyphen
elif [[ $1 == "-"[A-Za-z0-9]* ]]; then
# Handle the flags
if [[ $HYPHEN_FLAGS == *"${1/-/}"* ]]; then
echo "Argument with one hyphen flag!"
echo $1
# Remove the hyphen from $1
local param="${1/-/}"
# Assign true to $param
declare $param=true
# Shift by one
shift
# Handle the parameter-value cases
else
echo "Argument with one hyphen value!"
echo $1 $2
# Remove the hyphen from $1
local param="${1/-/}"
# Assign argument $2 to $param
declare $param="$2"
# Shift by two
shift 2
fi
# Handle the arguments with two hyphens
elif [[ $1 == "--"[A-Za-z0-9]* ]]; then
# NOTE: For double hyphen I am using `declare -g $param`.
# This is the case because I am assuming that's going to be
# the final name of the variable
echo "Argument with two hypens!"
# Handle the flags
if [[ $DHYPHEN_FLAGS == *"${1/--/}"* ]]; then
echo $1 true
# Remove the hyphens from $1
local param="${1/--/}"
# Assign argument $2 to $param
declare -g $param=true
# Shift by two
shift
# Handle the parameter-value cases
else
echo $1 $2
# Remove the hyphens from $1
local param="${1/--/}"
# Assign argument $2 to $param
declare -g $param="$2"
# Shift by two
shift 2
fi
fi
done
# Default value for arguments with no hypheb
CREATE=${create:-'CREATE_DEFAULT'}
DELETE=${delete:-'DELETE_DEFAULT'}
# Default value for arguments with one hypen flag
VAR1=${a:-false}
VAR2=${b:-false}
# Default value for arguments with value
# NOTE1: This is just for illustration in one line. We can well create
# another function to handle this. Here I am handling the cases where
# we have a full named argument and a contraction of it.
# For example `--arg1` can be also set with `-c`.
# NOTE2: What we are doing here is to check if $arg is defined. If not,
# check if $c was defined. If not, assign the default value "VD_"
VAR3=$(if [[ $arg1 ]]; then echo $arg1; else echo ${c:-"VD_1"}; fi)
VAR4=$(if [[ $arg2 ]]; then echo $arg2; else echo ${d:-"VD_2"}; fi)
}
# Pass all the arguments given to the script to the parser function
parser "$#"
echo $CREATE $DELETE $VAR1 $VAR2 $VAR3 $VAR4 $cats $dir
Some references
The main procedure was found here.
More about passing all the arguments to a function here.
More info regarding default values here.
More info about declare do $ bash -c "help declare".
More info about shift do $ bash -c "help shift".