9.3. Parameter Substitution

Manipulating and/or expanding variables

${parameter}

Same as $parameter, i.e., value of the variable parameter. In certain contexts, only the less ambiguous ${parameter} form works.

May be used for concatenating variables with strings.

your_id=${USER}-on-${HOSTNAME} echo "$your_id" # echo "Old \$PATH = $PATH" PATH=${PATH}:/opt/bin #Add /opt/bin to $PATH for duration of script. echo "New \$PATH = $PATH"

${parameter-default}, ${parameter:-default}

If parameter not set, use default.

echo ${username-`whoami`} # Echoes the result of `whoami`, if variable $username is still unset.

${parameter-default} and ${parameter:-default} are almost equivalent. The extra : makes a difference only when parameter has been declared, but is null.

#!/bin/bash # param-sub.sh # Whether a variable has been declared #+ affects triggering of the default option #+ even if the variable is null. username0= echo "username0 has been declared, but is set to null." echo "username0 = ${username0-`whoami`}" # Will not echo. echo echo username1 has not been declared. echo "username1 = ${username1-`whoami`}" # Will echo. username2= echo "username2 has been declared, but is set to null." echo "username2 = ${username2:-`whoami`}" # ^ # Will echo because of :- rather than just - in condition test. # Compare to first instance, above. # # Once again: variable= # variable has been declared, but is set to null. echo "${variable-0}" # (no output) echo "${variable:-1}" # 1 # ^ unset variable echo "${variable-2}" # 2 echo "${variable:-3}" # 3 exit 0

The default parameter construct finds use in providing "missing" command-line arguments in scripts.

DEFAULT_FILENAME=generic.data filename=${1:-$DEFAULT_FILENAME} # If not otherwise specified, the following command block operates #+ on the file "generic.data". # # Commands follow.

See also Example 3-4, Example 28-2, and Example A-6.

Compare this method with using an and list to supply a default command-line argument.

${parameter=default}, ${parameter:=default}

If parameter not set, set it to default.

Both forms nearly equivalent. The : makes a difference only when $parameter has been declared and is null, [1] as above.

echo ${username=`whoami`} # Variable "username" is now set to `whoami`.

${parameter+alt_value}, ${parameter:+alt_value}

If parameter set, use alt_value, else use null string.

Both forms nearly equivalent. The : makes a difference only when parameter has been declared and is null, see below.

echo "###### \${parameter+alt_value} ########" echo a=${param1+xyz} echo "a = $a" # a = param2= a=${param2+xyz} echo "a = $a" # a = xyz param3=123 a=${param3+xyz} echo "a = $a" # a = xyz echo echo "###### \${parameter:+alt_value} ########" echo a=${param4:+xyz} echo "a = $a" # a = param5= a=${param5:+xyz} echo "a = $a" # a = # Different result from a=${param5+xyz} param6=123 a=${param6:+xyz} echo "a = $a" # a = xyz

${parameter?err_msg}, ${parameter:?err_msg}

If parameter set, use it, else print err_msg.

Both forms nearly equivalent. The : makes a difference only when parameter has been declared and is null, as above.

Variable length / Substring removal

${#var}

String length (number of characters in $var). For an array, ${#array} is the length of the first element in the array.

Exceptions: ${#*} and ${#@} give the number of positional parameters. For an array, ${#array[*]} and ${#array[@]} give the number of elements in the array.

Example 9-17. Length of a variable

#!/bin/bash # length.sh E_NO_ARGS=65 if [ $# -eq 0 ] # Must have command-line args to demo script. then echo "Please invoke this script with one or more command-line arguments." exit $E_NO_ARGS fi var01=abcdEFGH28ij echo "var01 = ${var01}" echo "Length of var01 = ${#var01}" # Now, let's try embedding a space. var02="abcd EFGH28ij" echo "var02 = ${var02}" echo "Length of var02 = ${#var02}" echo "Number of command-line arguments passed to script = ${#@}" echo "Number of command-line arguments passed to script = ${#*}" exit 0

${var#Pattern}, ${var##Pattern}

${var#Pattern} Remove from $var the shortest part of $Pattern that matches the front end of $var.

${var##Pattern} Remove from $var the longest part of $Pattern that matches the front end of $var.

A usage illustration from Example A-7:

# Function from "days-between.sh" example. # Strips leading zero(s) from argument passed. strip_leading_zero () # Strip possible leading zero(s) { #+ from argument passed. return=${1#0} # The "1" refers to "$1" -- passed arg. } # The "0" is what to remove from "$1" -- strips zeros.

Manfred Schwarb's more elaborate variation of the above:

strip_leading_zero2 () # Strip possible leading zero(s), since otherwise { # Bash will interpret such numbers as octal values. shopt -s extglob # Turn on extended globbing. local val=${1##+(0)} # Use local variable, longest matching series of 0's. shopt -u extglob # Turn off extended globbing. _strip_leading_zero2=${val:-0} # If input was 0, return 0 instead of "". }

Another usage illustration:

echo `basename $PWD` # Basename of current working directory. echo "${PWD##*/}" # Basename of current working directory. echo echo `basename $0` # Name of script. echo $0 # Name of script. echo "${0##*/}" # Name of script. echo filename=test.data echo "${filename##*.}" # data # Extension of filename.

${var%Pattern}, ${var%%Pattern}

$var%Pattern} Remove from $var the shortest part of $Pattern that matches the back end of $var.

$var%%Pattern} Remove from $var the longest part of $Pattern that matches the back end of $var.

Variable expansion / Substring replacement

These constructs have been adopted from ksh.

${var:pos}

Variable var expanded, starting from offset pos.

${var:pos:len}

Expansion to a max of len characters of variable var, from offset pos. See Example A-14 for an example of the creative use of this operator.

${var/Pattern/Replacement}

First match of Pattern, within var replaced with Replacement.

If Replacement is omitted, then the first match of Pattern is replaced by nothing, that is, deleted.

${var//Pattern/Replacement}

Global replacement. All matches of Pattern, within var replaced with Replacement.

As above, if Replacement is omitted, then all occurrences of Pattern are replaced by nothing, that is, deleted.

Example 9-20. Using pattern matching to parse arbitrary strings

#!/bin/bash var1=abcd-1234-defg echo "var1 = $var1" t=${var1#*-*} echo "var1 (with everything, up to and including first - stripped out) = $t" # t=${var1#*-} works just the same, #+ since # matches the shortest string, #+ and * matches everything preceding, including an empty string. # (Thanks, Stephane Chazelas, for pointing this out.) t=${var1##*-*} echo "If var1 contains a \"-\", returns empty string... var1 = $t" t=${var1%*-*} echo "var1 (with everything from the last - on stripped out) = $t" echo # ------------------------------------------- path_name=/home/bozo/ideas/thoughts.for.today # ------------------------------------------- echo "path_name = $path_name" t=${path_name##/*/} echo "path_name, stripped of prefixes = $t" # Same effect as t=`basename $path_name` in this particular case. # t=${path_name%/}; t=${t##*/} is a more general solution, #+ but still fails sometimes. # If $path_name ends with a newline, then `basename $path_name` will not work, #+ but the above expression will. # (Thanks, S.C.) t=${path_name%/*.*} # Same effect as t=`dirname $path_name` echo "path_name, stripped of suffixes = $t" # These will fail in some cases, such as "../", "/foo////", # "foo/", "/". # Removing suffixes, especially when the basename has no suffix, #+ but the dirname does, also complicates matters. # (Thanks, S.C.) echo t=${path_name:11} echo "$path_name, with first 11 chars stripped off = $t" t=${path_name:11:5} echo "$path_name, with first 11 chars stripped off, length 5 = $t" echo t=${path_name/bozo/clown} echo "$path_name with \"bozo\" replaced by \"clown\" = $t" t=${path_name/today/} echo "$path_name with \"today\" deleted = $t" t=${path_name//o/O} echo "$path_name with all o's capitalized = $t" t=${path_name//o/} echo "$path_name with all o's deleted = $t" exit 0

${var/#Pattern/Replacement}

If prefix of var matches Pattern, then substitute Replacement for Pattern.

${var/%Pattern/Replacement}

If suffix of var matches Pattern, then substitute Replacement for Pattern.

Example 9-21. Matching patterns at prefix or suffix of string

#!/bin/bash # var-match.sh: # Demo of pattern replacement at prefix / suffix of string. v0=abc1234zip1234abc # Original variable. echo "v0 = $v0" # abc1234zip1234abc echo # Match at prefix (beginning) of string. v1=${v0/#abc/ABCDEF} # abc1234zip1234abc # |-| echo "v1 = $v1" # ABCDEF1234zip1234abc # |----| # Match at suffix (end) of string. v2=${v0/%abc/ABCDEF} # abc1234zip123abc # |-| echo "v2 = $v2" # abc1234zip1234ABCDEF # |----| echo # ---------------------------------------------------- # Must match at beginning / end of string, #+ otherwise no replacement results. # ---------------------------------------------------- v3=${v0/#123/000} # Matches, but not at beginning. echo "v3 = $v3" # abc1234zip1234abc # NO REPLACEMENT. v4=${v0/%123/000} # Matches, but not at end. echo "v4 = $v4" # abc1234zip1234abc # NO REPLACEMENT. exit 0

${!varprefix*}, ${!varprefix@}

Matches names of all previously declared variables beginning with varprefix.

xyz23=whatever xyz24= a=${!xyz*} # Expands to *names* of declared variables beginning with "xyz". echo "a = $a" # a = xyz23 xyz24 a=${!xyz@} # Same as above. echo "a = $a" # a = xyz23 xyz24 # Bash, version 2.04, adds this feature.