Chosing "input" in an AND (&&) and OR (||) list of commands - bash

Question

I have to find a way to have my script read from one of these three options:
a file argument
standard input
a previously established environment variable
Here's what I currently have:
#!/bin/bash
key=$1
[ $# -ge 1 -a -f "$2" ] && input="$2" || [ -f "$INPUT" ] && input="$INPUT" || input="-"
echo $input
Only the environment variable refuses to work, the rest works fine.
I've tried using the export INPUT="pathnametofile" before but it doesn't make any difference, I end up with the shell asking me to enter info as if I called on cat.

Answer 1

The problem in your script
Your attemp is not working due to the way the shell processes a Lists of Commands:
‘&&’ and ‘||’ have equal precedence.
AND and OR lists are executed with left associativity.
Your sentence:
[ $# -ge 1 -a -f "$2" ] && input="$2" || [ -f "$INPUT" ] && input="$INPUT" || input="-"
does the same as follows:
[ $# -ge 1 -a -f "$2" ] && input="$2"
[ $? -eq 0 ] || [ -f "$INPUT" ]
[ $? -eq 0 ] && input="$INPUT"
[ $? -eq 0 ] || input="-"
Now yo may see why your unexpected behaviour.
A better attempt grouping commands
{ [ $# -ge 1 -a -f "$2" ] && input="$2"; } || { [ -f "$INPUT" ] && input="$INPUT"; } || input="-"
Now, due to precedence, the first group is not needed at all:
[ $# -ge 1 -a -f "$2" ] && input="$2" || { [ -f "$INPUT" ] && input="$INPUT"; } || input="-"
Furthermore, unless you have set the positional parameters by hand, you can remove the first check (after all, if $2 is emtpy, -f "" fails the same).
[ -f "$2" ] && input="$2" || { [ -f "$INPUT" ] && input="$INPUT"; } || input="-"
An alternative with the if conditional construct
if [ -f "$2" ]; then
input=$2
elif [ -f "$INPUT" ]; then
input=$INPUT
fi
echo "${input:=-}"

Answer 2

untested, but you'll probably have better luck with if commands, and test that the variable is not empty:
if [ $# -ge 1 -a -f "$2" ]; then
input="$2"
elif [ -n "$INPUT" -a -f "$INPUT" ]; then
input="$INPUT"
else
input="-"
fi