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Meaning of '$#' in Unix

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# 1  
Old 03-09-2011
Meaning of '$#' in Unix
All,

In the below mentioned piece of code :

Code:
if test $# -eq 1
        then
            echo "Input parameter passed into DMI_weekly.ksh..." | tee -a $RUNLOG
            typeset -u ORACLE_SID
            export ORACLE_SID="$1"
        else
            echo "ERROR 060: Arguments passed to DMI_weekly.ksh do not equal 1..." | tee -a $RUNLOG
            echo "***Verify that a valid ORACLE_SID is being passed when calling script..." >> $RUNLOG
            echo "See $RUNLOG for more details..."
            echo "\nExiting DMI_weekly.ksh with exit status=1...\n"| tee -a $RUNLOG
            echo "Preload Error:  Arguments passed to DMI_weekly.ksh do not equal 1" |mailx -s "DMI_weekly.ksh (ERROR 070)" "
$MAILID"
        exit 1
    fi

what '$#' tells to the unix ...?


Regards
Oracle user
Last edited by DukeNuke2; 03-09-2011 at 03:13 AM..
# 2  
Old 03-09-2011
It is the special built-in variable which contains the total number of parameters passed to any shell script.

if you invoke script test.ksh in this way

Code:
./test.ksh arg1 arg2 arg3

then the value of $# inside the script would be 3.
# 3  
Old 03-09-2011
This means the number of parameters (values) given to the script.
This small example will help you to understand :

Create the scritpt test.sh containing the following lines
echo "1st parameter : $1"
echo "2nd parameter : $2"
echo "3rd parameter : $3"
echo "Number of parameters: $#"
If you execute ./test.sh A B C

The output will be :
1st parameter : A
2nd parameter : B
3rd parameter : C
Number of parameters: 3
If now you execute ./test.sh A B

The output will be :
1st parameter : A
2nd parameter : B
3rd parameter :
Number of parameters: 2
Coming back to your script :

if test $# -eq 1 checks that one parameter is given to the script during its execution. Please notice this doesn't check the content of this parameter.
This User Gave Thanks to fhernu For This Post:
Oracle_User
# 4  
Old 03-09-2011
Thank-you anchal and fhernu.
Even i was considering it in the same way, putted this in the forum, just to confirm it.

Regards
Oracle User
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