Questions tagged [arguments]
An argument is usually defined as the actual value passed to a function, procedure, or command line program.
6
votes
2answers
351 views
How to have a script work with “$@” or a default list of parameters while not breaking paths with whitespace?
I want a script that will run another utility over some default paths if no parameters are passed to it; ideally I want this safe for paths that contain spaces.
So far I have script.sh:
#!/bin/sh
...
0
votes
1answer
110 views
Understanding the combination of ufw --force enable
I rent a remote machine with Debian/Ubuntu and desire to filter all ports I don't use through iptables via ufw.
The only ports I allow (both with TCP and UPD) are 22,25,80,443.
If I understand man ...
0
votes
1answer
20 views
Require command line argument for script to run [closed]
I'm trying to require a script to only run if the command line argument provided is a specific text file called dailyUserProcs.20181203 in the same directory as the script. I am also running Putty.
...
2
votes
3answers
155 views
'rename' with expression|replacement with a leading '-' (hyphen|minus)
I have many files like xyz_123_foo.ext for which I would like to add -bar to the filenames at the end to result in xyz_123_foo-bar.ext. I tried:
rename . -bar. xyz_*
which resulted in:
rename: ...
5
votes
1answer
524 views
How to distinguish between a positional parameter and an option?
Both a positional parameter ($1, $2, and so forth) and an option (and/or argument) are both written directly after a command, so what is the definition or phrasing to explain how to distinct them?
In ...
0
votes
1answer
23 views
Does Konsole permit launching a terminal with a custom font-size on the command-line?
If I want to launch a Konsole can I do so with a font-size of 30px rather than the default?
0
votes
1answer
30 views
Where can I configure Chromium's default command line arguments?
I've seen lots of places people have suggested to store command line arguments,
~/.config/google-chrome-flags.conf
~/.config/chromium-flags.conf
/etc/default,
My version of chromium doesn't seem to ...
0
votes
3answers
87 views
Read arguments separated by newline
I have a script and I receive data from stdin as an argument separated by newlines say I have
string1,string2
string3,string4
And I want to take sperately string1,string2 and string3,string4.
But I ...
1
vote
1answer
51 views
How to make my bash function known to external program
I have bash functions foo and bar in my ~/.bashrc.
Function foo calls an external command ext_command that itself takes as one of its arguments another command. I want to pass bar as that command, i....
-3
votes
2answers
164 views
Calling sh with script on stdin and passing command line arguments
This works of course. I can run ./test1.sh cats and the argument cats is passed correctly to ls.
$ cat test1.sh
#!/bin/sh
ls -l $1
Can you tell me how do I make this second example — the same ...
0
votes
2answers
38 views
Are `-name` and `-exec` options or non-option arguments of `find`?
Are -name and -exec options or non-option arguments of find? They look like short options, and they are called find expressions, if I am not mistaken. For example,
find . -name "*.txt" -exec echo {} ...
4
votes
2answers
336 views
find -exec {} + argument list limit
I know that when the maximum argument list size is reached, xargs keeps creating new lists until all of the files are included;
but does find -exec <command> {} + do the same thing or will it ...
2
votes
1answer
159 views
Does the system-wide limit on argument count apply in shell functions?
The other question asks about the limit on building up commands by find's -exec ... {} +. Here I'd like to know how those limits compare to shells' inner limits. Do they mimic system limits or are ...
1
vote
2answers
109 views
How does the find command know how many arguments to feed with “-exec … {} +”?
In a command like this:
find /data ! -type d -exec rm -f {} +
the + is for batch execution of rm -f. find should batch as many arguments as possible. But how does it know the limit?
1
vote
4answers
223 views
Argument list too long error with makefile
In a makefile, I have
@echo "$(IGNORE_DIRS) $(CLEAN_FILES) $(CLEAN_DIRS) $(REALCLEAN_FILES)" | tr ' ' '\n' >> $@
The problem is that $(CLEAN_FILES) is quite large, so when I run make, I get
...
1
vote
1answer
40 views
Partially use the -y argument when installing things in Debian in one line
I have a long apt-get install sequence and for most software packages I need the -y argument.
I could do the following in two lines:
apt-get upgrade unattended-upgrades sshguard curl wget git ...
1
vote
2answers
56 views
How can I provide an array as a file argument to a script, so that each element is like a line in a file?
Suppose a bash script expects an argument to be a file. But we have a bash array, and would like to provide the array in some way as an argument to the script, as if there were a file whose lines are ...
4
votes
1answer
143 views
First argument passed to wrapper script is ignored
So I've got the following script:
#!/bin/bash
echo '-------------------------'
echo $0
echo $1
echo $@
echo '-------------------------'
exec su -- someuser -c "/tmp/elasticsearch-6.4.2/bin/...
3
votes
1answer
155 views
does bash `shift` command change argument count `$#`
When I use the bash shift command, does that change the argument count in $#?
Note from author: When I had this question I did not find it (yet) on this community. Therefore I simply tried it and ...
0
votes
2answers
141 views
How to pass multiple parameters to su <USER> -c “command”
I want to execute composer as non root user. So I renamed main composer executable file to composer-call and then create another executable file called composer.
#composer.sh
su nginx -c "composer-...
0
votes
0answers
72 views
xargs argument in the middle of command [duplicate]
Why is this command not working?
echo 'foo
bar' | xargs -I % -L 1 echo yeah % yeah
It produces the following output:
yeah % yeah foo
yeah % yeah bar
While I expected the following output:
yeah ...
0
votes
1answer
146 views
How to pass argv arguments to a C program using a file or python script in linux?
I used to be able to pass input to C program by first writing a python script and using pipe to send it to the C program as an input
or write the output of python script to a file and just doing r &...
0
votes
1answer
43 views
How to detach-sign a file with a specific private key? || Why this fails?
I have a .tar.xz file which I would like to detach-sign using my gpg private key.
The problem is, I have multiple of private keys imported to my keyring and need to choose, which one to use.
...
0
votes
3answers
46 views
How to parse arguments with space inside bash function
In bash I am calling function:
myFunction "1 2"
myFunction()
{
echo "$1"
echo "$2"
}
this prints me "1 2" and empty row. How I can parse arguments so it will print on one row 1 and ...
2
votes
1answer
47 views
Optional commands for bash script
I have a Bash script that sets various environment variables and runs a program. I want one of those variables to change if I run the command with an argument debug.
I know 100% how to do this in Lua ...
2
votes
1answer
57 views
Escape keywords with tmux send
Using tmux to send commands along from one terminal to another, I realize that
$ tmux send -t mySession "text" ENTER
correctly sends text, but
$ tmux send -t mySession "up" ENTER
sends text again, ...
1
vote
1answer
63 views
Using the 'a' and 'c' options with the 'dash' command in Unix [closed]
What do the options 'a' and 'c' do when there are used with the command 'dash'? I was unable to understand what that command actually does! I have tried reading the man page but didn't exactly ...
1
vote
4answers
66 views
Pass function argument to defined variable
How can I "inject" a function argument to a defined variable like in this example?
mood="i am $1 happy"
happy ()
{
echo "$mood"
}
happy "very"
Current output:
i am happy
Desired output:
i ...
1
vote
1answer
47 views
Why does my script not take command arguments?
I have a script:
#!/bin/sh
function usage() {
cat << EOF >&2
Usage: $0 [-h] [-rs <start_num>] [-re <end_num>]
-h: help: displays list of options for command $0
-rs<...
2
votes
1answer
115 views
Moving random files using shuf and mv - Argument list too long
I have a directory containing nearly 250K files, which are lots of files, and I want to move x random files to another directory.
I searched and I got the solution of using the shuf and mv commands ...
0
votes
1answer
30 views
How to handle options when opening a file passed as argument? [closed]
I am trying to open a file through a script; as long as I pass the file as the first argument there are no problems; for instance:
$ cat textExample.txt
Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear ...
2
votes
1answer
35 views
Generating quoted command arguments
I'm working with a HTTP API that demands a very particular set of signed headers + JSON body. And I really want to cURL it for debugging and sanity in general.
So, I've written a small script that, ...
0
votes
4answers
83 views
Creating n variables in Bash without assigning them one by one?
How do I create n variables in shell scripts without explicitly assigning them? What I mean is something like a loop that creates var1, var2, var3,...,varx, where x is a variable I set earlier, ...
0
votes
1answer
151 views
capture output from java
I am trying to do that :
#!/bin/bash
set out=$(java -jar -Xmx1024m myJava.jar '$1' '$2' '$3' '$4')
echo "$out"
python myPython.py $out
but with no success... I tried with and without quote (because ...
0
votes
2answers
59 views
Keeping quotes passed to a perl wrapper script
I'm writing a small perl wrapper to setup environment variables, etc., then invoke a command by the same name.
./foo.pl -a one -b two -c "1 2 3" -d done
When I output @ARGV, the "" around 1 2 3 have ...
0
votes
2answers
32 views
Bash : Give builded array to function as a list of argument?
I have this issue with borgbackup, but because the reaction is the same, I will use rsync in my example.
I want to build an array of arguments by adding a prefix to each, and then give that array to ...
-5
votes
2answers
101 views
Signal the end of option arguments: double dashes `--` vs single dash `-`? [duplicate]
I notice in https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/459007/674, that single dash - is used to signal the end of option arguments.
Is it correct that double dashes -- can also signal the end of option ...
1
vote
1answer
35 views
ffmpeg truncates paths on output when there are dots involved when run on bash
If I have a path with dots in the path, for instance:
/home/user/Documents/hello/test.testing_23-24.123/test.testing_23-24.124
ffmpeg can locate the file if you pass the file's path as an argument ...
28
votes
2answers
2k views
Why is `sort < “$f1” ` preferred over `sort — “$f1”`, and why is this preferred over `sort “$f1”`?
From https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/458074/674
Remember to use -- when passing arbitrary arguments to commands (or use redirections where possible). So sort -- "$f1" or better sort < "$f1" ...
5
votes
3answers
956 views
unshift args after calling shift 1
I have this scenario
first_arg="$1";
if foo; then
shift 1;
node foo.js "$@"
elif bar; then
shift 1;
node bar.js "$@"
elif baz; then
shift 1;
node baz.js "$@"
else
node ...
8
votes
3answers
718 views
Shell: Using function with parameters in if
I'm trying to execute the code below but when I try to use my function in the if statement I get the -bash: [: too many arguments error.
Why is it happening?
Thank you in advance!
notContainsElement ...
2
votes
1answer
69 views
Detect optional function argument (array)
Consider this function:
function add_one(in_ar, each) {
for (each in in_ar) {
in_ar[each]++
}
}
I would like to modify it such that if a second array is provided, it would be
used instead ...
1
vote
2answers
116 views
find inside shell function
I try to put find inside function and catch an argument passed to this function with the following minimal work example:
function DO
{
ls $(find . -type f -name "$@" -exec grep -IHl "TODO" {} \;)
...
0
votes
2answers
800 views
map array of arguments and then convert to string
Say I have these bash functions in a script:
foo(){
my_args_array=("$@")
export my_args="${my_args_array[@]}"
bar $my_args
}
bar(){
echo "number of args: $#";
}
foo a b 'c d e'
if I run ...
5
votes
4answers
576 views
Pass arguments for use in a grandchild process
I have a list of arguments and three processes:
bash_script -> child -> grandchild
The list of arguments is aimed at the grandchild. I can modify all three processes. The grandfather script ...
3
votes
1answer
70 views
Executing `sh -c` script through SSH (passing arguments safely and sanely)
I suddenly realized I don't know how to execute things over SSH.
I tried to do
$ ssh user@server sh -c 'echo "hello"'
but it outputs nothing, or rather, it outputs an empty line. If the command ...
1
vote
4answers
136 views
How I can use 'grep' command to grab some value from the arguments?
Actually, I am doing some assignment by follow:
1: Write a program called valid that prints "yes" if its argument is a valid shell variable name and "no" otherwise:
What I am doing is I want to ...
0
votes
2answers
47 views
Correct way of building variable length argument line to external command in bash
I need to use "find" command to find several different sets of files in my Bash function, depending on my script input.
So, I have thing like:
DAYS=30
case $1 in
A1) ARGLINE="-name 'FOO*.xml' -or -...
0
votes
1answer
44 views
Turn lines in file into list of input [duplicate]
The command i want to execute:
tool <input> [<input> ...] <output>
I have the input list in a file, separated by newline.
I want to put that file's content into the input field. ...
0
votes
1answer
38 views
the position of parameter of command
I think the position of parameter of any command is not fixed.
For example, cp -r ./abc ./def and cp ./abc ./def -r are the same, grep -rnH hello . and grep hello . -rnH are the same...
However, ...
