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Full Discussion: [BASH - KSH] Passing array to a function
Top Forums Shell Programming and Scripting [BASH - KSH] Passing array to a function Post 302186432 by ripat on Thursday 17th of April 2008 08:17:38 AM
Old 04-17-2008
Boy, this one wasn't easy!

OK, here is what works in bash. Remember, the question was to pass an array to a function and make sure that whatever is done by the function remains local. If the local scope isn't necessary, just remove the "local" declaration.
Code:
#!/bin/bash

function print_array {
    # Setting the shell's Internal Field Separator to null
    OLD_IFS=$IFS
    IFS=''

    # Create a string containing "colors[*]"
    local array_string="$1[*]"

    # assign loc_array value to ${colors[*]} using indirect variable reference
    local loc_array=(${!array_string})

    # Resetting IFS to default
    IFS=$OLD_IFS

    # Checking the second element "Light Gray" (the one with a space)
    echo ${loc_array[1]}
    
}

# create an array and display contents
colors=('Pink' 'Light Gray' 'Green')
echo ${colors[*]}

# call function with positional parameter $1 set to array's name
print_array colors 

# checking whether the function "local" loc_array is visible here
echo "Does the local array exist here? -->${loc_array[*]}<--"
exit 0

This returns:
Code:
Pink Light Gray Green
Light Gray
Does the local array exist here? --><--

We can also "copy" an array the same way: setting IFS to NULL permit to do variable expansion that preserves the possible spaces in array's elements.
Code:
colors=('Pink' 'Light Gray' 'Green')
OLD_IFS=$IFS
IFS=''
copy_colors=(${colors[*]})
IFS=$OLD_IFS

echo ${copy_colors[*]}
echo ${copy_colors[1]}

Last edited by ripat; 04-18-2008 at 03:35 AM..
 

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LEARN ABOUT CENTOS

lksh

LKSH(1) 						    BSD General Commands Manual 						   LKSH(1)

NAME

     lksh -- Legacy Korn shell built on mksh

SYNOPSIS

     lksh [-+abCefhiklmnprUuvXx] [-+o opt] [-c string | -s | file [args ...]]

DESCRIPTION

     lksh is a command interpreter intended exclusively for running legacy shell scripts.  It is built on mksh; refer to its manual page for
     details on the scripting language.  It is recommended to port scripts to mksh instead of relying on legacy or idiotic POSIX-mandated behav-
     iour, since the MirBSD Korn Shell scripting language is much more consistent.

LEGACY MODE

     lksh has the following differences from mksh:

     o	 lksh is not suitable for use as /bin/sh.

     o	 There is no explicit support for interactive use, nor any command line editing or history code.  Hence, lksh is not suitable as a user's
	 login shell, either; use mksh instead.

     o	 The KSH_VERSION string identifies lksh as ``LEGACY KSH'' instead of ``MIRBSD KSH''.

     o	 lksh only offers the traditional ten file descriptors to scripts.

     o	 lksh uses POSIX arithmetics, which has quite a few implications: The data type for arithmetics is the host ISO C long data type.  Signed
	 integer wraparound is Undefined Behaviour.  The sign of the result of a modulo operation with at least one negative operand is unspeci-
	 fied.	Shift operations on negative numbers are unspecified.  Division of the largest negative number by -1 is Undefined Behaviour.  The
	 compiler is permitted to delete all data and crash the system if Undefined Behaviour occurs.

     o	 The rotation arithmetic operators are not available.

     o	 The shift arithmetic operators take all bits of the second operand into account; if they exceed permitted precision, the result is
	 unspecified.

     o	 The GNU bash extension &> to redirect stdout and stderr in one go is not parsed.

     o	 The mksh command line option -T is not available.

     o	 Unless set -o posix is active, lksh always uses traditional mode for constructs like:

	       $ set -- $(getopt ab:c "$@")
	       $ echo $?

	 POSIX mandates this to show 0, but traditional mode passes through the errorlevel from the getopt(1) command.

     o	 lksh, unlike AT&T UNIX ksh, does not keep file descriptors > 2 private.

SEE ALSO

     mksh(1)

     https://www.mirbsd.org/mksh.htm

     https://www.mirbsd.org/ksh-chan.htm

CAVEATS

     lksh tries to make a cross between a legacy bourne/posix compatibl-ish shell and a legacy pdksh-alike but ``legacy'' is not exactly speci-
     fied.

     The set built-in command does not have all options one would expect from a full-blown mksh or pdksh.

     Talk to the MirOS development team using the mailing list at <miros-mksh@mirbsd.org> or the #!/bin/mksh (or #ksh) IRC channel at
     irc.freenode.net (Port 6697 SSL, 6667 unencrypted) if you need any further quirks or assistance, and consider migrating your legacy scripts
     to work with mksh instead of requiring lksh.

MirBSD								    May 2, 2013 							    MirBSD
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