Issue

I want to use $* in a loop but the first argument is ignored.

in other words:

    sum=0
    for i in $*
    do
        if [ $1 = "+" ]; then
        sum=$(($sum+$i))
        fi
    done
    echo $sum

Solution

To remove the first parameter, use shift.

But before you shift, you should store the value somewhere.

As the first parameter doesn't change, you can check it just once before starting the loop:

#! /bin/bash
op=$1
shift

if [ "$op" = + ] ; then
    sum=0
    for i in $* ; do
        sum=$(($sum+$i))
    done
    echo $sum
fi

Note that you don't need the quotes around +. You should quote the $op in the condition, though, to prevent parsing errors (try running the script specifying an empty string "" as the first argument).

When using $((, note that you can use shorter and faster way to increment a variable:

((sum+=i))

Answered By - choroba

Answer Checked By - David Goodson (WPSolving Volunteer)

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

[SOLVED] how to use $* but it doesnt consider a special arguement in bash

Issue

Solution