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bashparameter-passingassertbats-core

Passing multiple arguments through: `run bash -c ...`


While trying to assert_failure on a function called some_function, I'm experiencing some difficulties passing more than 1 argument.

load 'libs/bats-support/load'
load 'libs/bats-assert/load'
# https://github.com/bats-core/bats-file#Index-of-all-functions
load 'libs/bats-file/load'
# https://github.com/bats-core/bats-assert#usage
load 'assert_utils'

@test "Perform some test." {
  variable_one="one"
  variable_two="two"
  variable_three="three"
  variable_four="four"
  run bash -c 'source src/some_script.sh && some_function 
  "$variable_one" "$variable_two" "$variable_three"'
  assert_failure
  assert_output "$expected_error_message"
}

Where the function consists of:

some_function() {
    local variable_one="$1"
    local variable_two="$2"
    local variable_three="$3"
    local variable_four="$4"
    echo "variable_one=$variable_one"
    echo "variable_two=$variable_two"
    echo "variable_three=$variable_three"
    echo "variable_four=$variable_four"
}

The output shows only the first variable is passed successfully, whereas, the second to fourth are not:

 ✗ Verify an error is thrown, if something.
   (from function `assert_failure' in file test/libs/bats-assert/src/assert.bash, line 140,
    in test file test/test_something.bats, line 89)
     `assert_failure' failed
   
   -- command succeeded, but it was expected to fail --
   output (3 lines):
     variable_one=one
     variable_two=
     variable_three=
     variable_four=
   --
   

How can I pass multiple/four variables to the function whilst still running assert_failure on it?

Edit in response to comment

Though I am grateful for the practical solution provided in the comments by KamilCuk, it seems to allow for increases in specificity. For example, variable_one might be a variable that is used in multiple functions with different values for different calls to those functions. So ideally, I would not overwrite the "exported" value every time a different function is called. Instead, I think it would be better to pass specific arguments to a specific function.


Solution

  • Pass the argument normally but skip first one that is reserved in this context:

    bash -c 'source src/some_script.sh && some_function "$@"' _ 'argument a' 'argument B' 'This is c' 'Andy'
    

    The output:

    variable_one=argument a
    variable_two=argument B
    variable_three=This is c
    variable_four=Andy