On Sat, Aug 16, 2014 at 02:44:14PM -0700, Mike Wright wrote: > Hi all, > > I'm trying to write a simple script that if provided an argument, > uses that, or if nothing is provided, uses a predefined string. > > if [ -n $# ] > then > WORDS=$1 > else > WORDS="these are some words" > fi > echo $WORDS; > > The second case is always comes back "". > > But if I write > > WORDS='these are some words' > echo $WORDS > > I get the assigned string. > > Why doesn't the assignment work when inside an if/then? How do I > make it work? What's the difference between the case where the > assignment is inside the if/then and outside the if/then? This works: #!/bin/sh if [ $# -ne 0 ] then WORDS=$1 else WORDS="these are some words" fi echo $WORDS the hashbang line should be used, but doesn't actually change the output of this script. "$#" is an integer, not a string, and that it should therefore be tested as an integer and not a string, hence the if statement being: if [ $# -ne 0 ] and you don't NEED the quotes around the literal string, though it doesn't harm to put them there, perhaps as documentation to make clear what you intention is. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- .---- Fred Smith / ( /__ ,__. __ __ / __ : / / / / /__) / / /__) .+' Home: fredex@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx / / (__ (___ (__(_ (___ / :__ 781-438-5471 -------------------------------- Jude 1:24,25 --------------------------------- -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Fedora Code of Conduct: http://fedoraproject.org/code-of-conduct Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines Have a question? Ask away: http://ask.fedoraproject.org
