confused with $* and $@

vinaytp · 10-26-2009, 09:01 AM

Hi all...

I am not able to distinguish between $* and $@, both will store the list of positional parameters...

echo $*
echo $@

are giving me same results even when command line arguments are quoted....

Help me please

Thanks in advnace....

avijitp · 10-26-2009, 09:06 AM

Googled and found this:

Code:

$* command-line arguments as one string 

$@ command-line arguments as list of strings (useful for writing wrapper shell scripts that just add one argument)

catkin · 10-26-2009, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vinaytp

giving me same results even when command line arguments are quoted

This illustrates the difference, initially with what you may have tried with apparently the same results for each (they're not the same but you can't see the difference) and then using them in a way that shows the difference

Code:

c:~$ set 'a b' c
c:~$ echo "$*"
a b c
c:~$ echo "$@"
a b c
c:~$ for var in "$@"; do echo $var; done
a b
c
c:~$ for var in "$*"; do echo $var; done
a b c
c:~$

chrism01 · 10-26-2009, 06:18 PM

http://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-G...ml#table_03_01