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bashcommand-line-argumentsgetopts

bash Script Arguments grouping

I am having problems with expansion of command-line options containing spaces. They are not getting grouped as I expect them to be. How can I modify following code(below) to get the desired output(below).

function myFunction {
  while getopts "a:b:A:" optionName; do
    echo "$optionName::$OPTARG"
  done
}

#dynamic variable, cannot be hardcoded into $MY_ARGS
MY_VAR="X1=162356374 X2=432876 X3=342724"

#$MY_ARGS is useful and will be used more than once,
#so we don't want to eliminate it and replace it's usage with its value everywhere
MY_ARGS="-a 24765437643 -b '$MY_VAR' -A jeeywewueuye"

myFunction $MY_ARGS

Actual Output:

a::24765437643
b::'X1=162356374

Desired Output:

a::24765437643
b::X1=162356374 X2=432876 X3=342724
A::jeeywewueuye
Solution

  • The best way to store a list of arguments is in an array. An array can handle arguments with whitespace without problem, and you don't have to figure out how to get the quotes and backslashes just right.

    MY_ARGS=(-a 24765437643 -b "$MY_VAR" -A jeeywewueuye)

myFunction "${MY_ARGS[@]}"

    The only unnatural part about arrays is the weird syntax to expand them: "${array[@]}". The quotes, curly braces, and [@] notation are all important.