how to insert $2 argument until the end to variable?

DoME69 · 05-17-2011, 07:05 AM

how to insert $2 argument until the end to variable?

For example:

>> cucu.csh user "long long message "

$1 = user
$2 = "long long message "

?

grail · 05-17-2011, 07:59 AM

You might have to explain further?? You seemed to have asked the question and provided the answer.

DoME69 · 05-17-2011, 08:26 AM

What i'm trying to say is...

how can i set $2 to be the rest of the line.

for now i have $2 = "long"

MTK358 · 05-17-2011, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoME69

how can i set $2 to be the rest of the line.

Do you mean "even if the rest of the line isn't quoted"?

SL00b · 05-17-2011, 08:47 AM

You don't have to SET anything. Your first parameter is $1, and your entire second parameter, so long as it's enclosed in quotes, is $2.

Here's a simple script called test.sh, to demonstrate this principle:

Code:

echo The first variable passed is $1
echo The second variable passed is $2

And here's the result of running it:

Code:

:~> ./test.sh user "long, long, long, long message"
The first variable passed is user
The second variable passed is long, long, long, long message

DoME69 · 05-17-2011, 08:51 AM

O.K...

So if i force user to use " message "
how can i check if it use commas for message?

SL00b · 05-17-2011, 09:10 AM

I assume you mean quotes, not commas. The answer is: it depends.

If you only expect two parameters, then the presence of a third parameter would indicate the user had failed to use quotes correctly. In that case, I'd add a test to see if $3 is non-blank, and echo an error message if true.

SL00b · 05-17-2011, 09:14 AM

Another way you could go is like this:

Code:

LONGSTRING=$2 $3 $4 $5 $6
echo The first variable passed is $1
echo The second variable passed is $LONGSTRING

This one assumes no more than five words are part of the long string. You could expand it to the max you expect, or construct a FOR loop. Either way, the user no longer has to worry about quotes.

MTK358 · 05-17-2011, 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SL00b

This one assumes no more than five words are part of the long string. You could expand it to the max you expect, or construct a FOR loop. Either way, the user no longer has to worry about quotes.

The catch is that all whitespace will be converted into a single space. So if the user enters (without quotes) this:

Code:

test     text

the script will see it like this:

Code:

test text

Whitespace will still be preserved if quotes are used.

grail · 05-17-2011, 09:50 AM

Also if you really only want to have 2 and exactly 2 arguments:

Code:

if (( $# != 2 ))

Nominal Animal · 05-17-2011, 10:06 AM

If your script expects two arguments, and you want to combine any extra arguments to the second one, use

Code:

first="$1"
shift 1
second="$*"

and you have the first argument in $first, and the rest in $second.