Possible to use $1 within Bash array?

Question

The script I'm writing will require me to pass some command line parameters. I would like to use these parameters within an array, but I'm not sure how.

A very basic example of this would be (script run as ./script.sh array1):

#!/bin/bash
array1=( a b c d )

echo ${#$1[@]}

The output should be 4, but I receive the following error: line 5: ${#$1[@]}: bad substitution.

I don't have to use arrays, but would like to.

Thanks for any ideas

Paul Creasey · Accepted Answer · 2009-12-18 21:37:10Z

2

you need to get bash to substitute the value of $1 before evaluating the line, try this...

eval echo \${#$1[@]}

answered Dec 18, 2009 at 21:37

Paul Creasey

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Michael Krelin - hacker · Accepted Answer · 2009-12-18 21:37:15Z

0

eval echo '${#'$1'[@]};'

answered Dec 18, 2009 at 21:37

Michael Krelin - hacker

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