Command line arguments

bioinformatics_guy · 02-12-2009, 07:09 AM

I'm writing a shell script that takes 2 command line arguments (which happen to be integers).

./script.sh 4 5

How can I test to make sure there are two arguments and if there is more/less then to inform the user?

Maligree · 02-12-2009, 07:16 AM

The number of arguments is stored in the $# variable. Try a simple script with echo $# and see for yourself.

David the H. · 02-12-2009, 07:26 AM

Maybe try something like

Code:

if [ ${#@} -ne 2 ] ; then

     echo "wrong number of arguments"

fi

${#@} (or $# in the simple form as mentioned above) = the number of positional parameters. See the ABSG reference card.