Is there a limit to the no. of arguments to a shell script ?

hidnana · #1 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008

What is the maximum no. of arguments that could be passed to a shell script ? Is there any restriction ?

I've a requirement where I need to pass a list of names to a unix script and I guess the number of such names is not a fixed one. It can run into hundreds.
Is this feasible ?

Tytalus · #2 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008

yes - should be possible.

have a look at the shift shell built in....i.e. man shift

should be what you want.

agn · #3 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008

Yes there's a limit to the max no. of arguments you can pass to a command.
Its system dependent I think. Try this:

Code:

$ getconf ARG_MAX

nua7 · #4 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008

Agreed with Tyatalus that it is system dependent. But tried on posix and bash shell , and the maxmium number of arguments you can pass to a script is 9. If you want to pass more parametrs , you need to use the shift function.

The intresting thing is , more than 9 parameters works fine if numbers are given , but gives unexpected output when tried with letters.

So if you are using some other shell, try testing it with letters.

Thanks!
nua7

drl · #5 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008

Hi.

Some shells allow access to script parameters using syntax as follows:

Code:

#!/bin/bash -

# @(#) s1       Demonstrate shell script parameter use.

echo "(Versions displayed with local utility \"version\")"
version >/dev/null 2>&1 && version =o $(_eat $0 $1)

echo
echo " Parameters beyond 9 explicit:"
echo " Parameter 10 is ${10}"
echo " Parameter 11 is ${11}"

echo
echo " Parameters with delayed evaluation using \"eval\":"
for ((j=1;j<=$#;j++))
do
  eval echo " Parameter $j is \${$j}"
done

exit 0

Producing:

Code:

% ./s1 a b c d e f g h i j k
(Versions displayed with local utility "version")
Linux 2.6.11-x1
GNU bash 2.05b.0

 Parameters beyond 9 explicit:
 Parameter 10 is j
 Parameter 11 is k

 Parameters with delayed evaluation using "eval":
Parameter 1 is a
Parameter 2 is b
Parameter 3 is c
Parameter 4 is d
Parameter 5 is e
Parameter 6 is f
Parameter 7 is g
Parameter 8 is h
Parameter 9 is i
Parameter 10 is j
Parameter 11 is k

However, I think shift is usually the most useful construct ... cheers, drl

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