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}
-
If parameter not set, use default.
echo ${username-`whoami`} # Echoes the result of `whoami`, if variable $username is still unset.
This is almost equivalent to ${parameter:-default}. The extra : makes a difference only when parameter has been declared, but is null.
#!/bin/bash username0= # username0 has been declared, but is set to null. echo "username0 = ${username0-`whoami`}" # Will not echo. echo "username1 = ${username1-`whoami`}" # username1 has not been declared. # Will echo. username2= # username2 has been declared, but is set to null. echo "username2 = ${username2:-`whoami`}" # Will echo because of :- rather than just - in condition test. exit 0 - ${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.
Example 9-11. Using param substitution and :
#!/bin/bash
# Check some of the system's environmental variables.
# If, for example, $USER, the name of the person at the console, is not set,
#+ the machine will not recognize you.
: ${HOSTNAME?} ${USER?} ${HOME?} ${MAIL?}
echo
echo "Name of the machine is $HOSTNAME."
echo "You are $USER."
echo "Your home directory is $HOME."
echo "Your mail INBOX is located in $MAIL."
echo
echo "If you are reading this message,"
echo "critical environmental variables have been set."
echo
echo
# ------------------------------------------------------
# The ${variablename?} construction can also check
#+ for variables set within the script.
ThisVariable=Value-of-ThisVariable
# Note, by the way, that string variables may be set
#+ to characters disallowed in their names.
: ${ThisVariable?}
echo "Value of ThisVariable is $ThisVariable".
echo
echo
: ${ZZXy23AB?"ZZXy23AB has not been set."}
# If ZZXy23AB has not been set,
#+ then the script terminates with an error message.
# You can specify the error message.
# : ${ZZXy23AB?"ZZXy23AB has not been set."}
# Same result with: dummy_variable=${ZZXy23AB?}
# dummy_variable=${ZZXy23AB?"ZXy23AB has not been set."}
#
# echo ${ZZXy23AB?} >/dev/null
echo "You will not see this message, because script terminated above."
HERE=0
exit $HERE # Will *not* exit here.
|
Parameter substitution and/or expansion. The following expressions are the complement to the match in expr string operations (see Example 12-6). These particular ones are used mostly in parsing file path names.
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 9-12. 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 "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}" echo "Number of command-line arguments passed to script = ${#@}" echo "Number of command-line arguments passed to script = ${#*}" exit 0 -
- ${var#pattern}, ${var##pattern}
-
Remove from $var the shortest/longest part of $pattern that matches the front end of $var.
A usage illustration from Example A-6:
# Function from "days-between.sh" example. # Strips leading zero(s) from argument passed. strip_leading_zero () # Better to strip possible leading zero(s) { # from day and/or month val=${1#0} # since otherwise Bash will interpret them return $val # as octal values (POSIX.2, sect 2.9.2.1). }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}
-
Remove from $var the shortest/longest part of $pattern that matches the back end of $var.
Version 2 of Bash adds additional options.
Example 9-13. Pattern matching in parameter substitution
#!/bin/bash
# Pattern matching using the # ## % %% parameter substitution operators.
var1=abcd12345abc6789
pattern1=a*c # * (wild card) matches everything between a - c.
echo
echo "var1 = $var1" # abcd12345abc6789
echo "var1 = ${var1}" # abcd12345abc6789 (alternate form)
echo "Number of characters in ${var1} = ${#var1}"
echo "pattern1 = $pattern1" # a*c (everything between 'a' and 'c')
echo
echo '${var1#$pattern1} =' "${var1#$pattern1}" # d12345abc6789
# Shortest possible match, strips out first 3 characters abcd12345abc6789
# ^^^^^ |-|
echo '${var1##$pattern1} =' "${var1##$pattern1}" # 6789
# Longest possible match, strips out first 12 characters abcd12345abc6789
# ^^^^^ |----------|
echo; echo
pattern2=b*9 # everything between 'b' and '9'
echo "var1 = $var1" # Still abcd12345abc6789
echo "pattern2 = $pattern2"
echo
echo '${var1%pattern2} =' "${var1%$pattern2}" # abcd12345a
# Shortest possible match, strips out last 6 characters abcd12345abc6789
# ^^^^ |----|
echo '${var1%%pattern2} =' "${var1%%$pattern2}" # a
# Longest possible match, strips out last 12 characters abcd12345abc6789
# ^^^^ |-------------|
# Remember, # and ## work from the left end of string,
# % and %% work from the right end.
echo
exit 0
|
Example 9-14. Renaming file extensions:
#!/bin/bash
# rfe
# ---
# Renaming file extensions.
#
# rfe old_extension new_extension
#
# Example:
# To rename all *.gif files in working directory to *.jpg,
# rfe gif jpg
ARGS=2
E_BADARGS=65
if [ $# -ne $ARGS ]
then
echo "Usage: `basename $0` old_file_suffix new_file_suffix"
exit $E_BADARGS
fi
for filename in *.$1
# Traverse list of files ending with 1st argument.
do
mv $filename ${filename%$1}$2
# Strip off part of filename matching 1st argument,
# then append 2nd argument.
done
exit 0
|
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-9 for an example of the creative use of this operator.
- ${var/patt/replacement}
-
First match of patt, within var replaced with replacement.
If replacement is omitted, then the first match of patt is replaced by nothing, that is, deleted.
- ${var//patt/replacement}
-
Global replacement. All matches of patt, within var replaced with replacement.
As above, if replacement is omitted, then all occurrences of patt are replaced by nothing, that is, deleted.
Example 9-15. 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, S. C. 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/#patt/replacement}
-
If prefix of var matches replacement, then substitute replacement for patt.
- ${var/%patt/replacement}
-
If suffix of var matches replacement, then substitute replacement for patt.
Example 9-16. Matching patterns at prefix or suffix of string
#!/bin/bash # 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 = $v1" # ABCDE1234zip1234abc # |---| # Match at suffix (end) of string. v2=${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*}, ${!varprefix@}
-
Matches all previously declared variables beginning with varprefix.
xyz23=whatever xyz24= a=${!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.