Special Variable Types in Shell

local variables

variables visible only within a code block or function (see also local variables in functions) environmental variables

variables that affect the behavior of the shell and user interface

Note

In a more general context, each process has an "environment", that is, a group of variables that hold information that the process may reference. In this sense, the shell behaves like any other process.

Every time a shell starts, it creates shell variables that correspond to its own environmental variables. Updating or adding new environmental variables causes the shell to update its environment, and all the shell's child processes (the commands it executes) inherit this environment.

Caution

The space allotted to the environment is limited. Creating too many environmental variables or ones that use up excessive space may cause problems.

bash$ eval "`seq 10000 | sed -e 's/.*/export var&=ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ/'`"

bash$ du

bash: /usr/bin/du: Argument list too long

Note: this "error" has been fixed, as of kernel version 2.6.23.

(Thank you, Stéphane Chazelas for the clarification, and for providing the above example.)

If a script sets environmental variables, they need to be "exported", that is, reported to the environment local to the script. This is the function of the export command.

Note

A script can export variables only to child processes, that is, only to commands or processes which that particular script initiates. A script invoked from the command line cannot export variables back to the command line environment. Child processes cannot export variables back to the parent processes that spawned them.

Definition: A child process is a subprocess launched by another process, its parent.

positional parameters

arguments passed to the script from the command line: $0, $1, $2, $3 . . .

$0 is the name of the script itself, $1 is the first argument, $2 the second, $3 the third, and so forth. [1] After $9, the arguments must be enclosed in brackets, for example, ${10}, ${11}, ${12}.

The special variables $* and $@ denote all the positional parameters.

Example: Positional Parameters

#!/bin/bash

# Call this script with at least 10 parameters, for example

# ./scriptname 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

MINPARAMS=10

echo

echo "The name of this script is "$0"."

# Adds ./ for current directory

echo "The name of this script is "`basename $0`"."

# Strips out path name info (see 'basename')

echo

if [ -n "$1" ] # Tested variable is quoted.

then

echo "Parameter #1 is $1" # Need quotes to escape #

fi

if [ -n "$2" ]

then

echo "Parameter #2 is $2"

fi

if [ -n "$3" ]

then

echo "Parameter #3 is $3"

fi

# ...

if [ -n "${10}" ] # Parameters > $9 must be enclosed in {brackets}.

then

echo "Parameter #10 is ${10}"

fi

echo "-----------------------------------"

echo "All the command-line parameters are: "$*""

if [ $# -lt "$MINPARAMS" ]

then

echo

echo "This script needs at least $MINPARAMS command-line arguments!"

fi

echo

exit 0

Bracket notation for positional parameters leads to a fairly simple way of referencing the last argument passed to a script on the command line. This also requires indirect referencing.

args=$# # Number of args passed.

lastarg=${!args}

# Note: This is an *indirect reference* to $args ...

# Or: lastarg=${!#} (Thanks, Chris Monson.)

# This is an *indirect reference* to the $# variable.

# Note that lastarg=${!$#} doesn't work.