Pattern: Function references argument when none are passed
Issue: -
In a function, $1
and up refers to the function's parameters, not the script's parameters.
If you want to process your script's parameters in a function, you have to explicitly pass them. You can do this with somefunction "$@"
.
Note that "$@"
refers to the current context's positional parameters, so if you call a function from a function, you have to pass in "$@"
to both of them:
first() { second "$@"; }
second() { echo "The first script parameter is: $1"; }
first "$@"
Example of incorrect code:
sayhello() {
echo "Hello $1"
}
sayhello
./somescript World
just prints "Hello " instead of "Hello World".
Example of correct code:
sayhello() {
echo "Hello $1"
}
sayhello "$@"
./somescript World
now prints "Hello World".
If the parameters are optional and you currently just don't want to use them, you can ignore this message.