How to use getopts with unix shell functions?

Question

The getopts command doesn't seem to work in a function. Maybe I did something wrong. The code below is what I have now. it is working if I put the whole while loop outside function. I am wondering if there is a way to make getopts work with functions ? I am new to the shell script. Any help would be appreciated :)

getOptions()
{
    while getopts :al:f:vd opt; do
            case "$opt" in
                    l) logFile = $OPTARG ;;
                    f) fileTable = $OPTARG ;;
                    v) verbose = 1 ;;
                    d) set -x ;;
                    a) echo "a";;
                    \?) echo "Invalid option: -$opt";;
            esac
    done
    shift $(($OPTIND - 1))
}

user539810 · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-31 23:04:45Z

4

One reason might be your usage of things like logFile = $OPTARG when you shouldn't have any spaces there (it should read logFile=$OPTARG).

Another reason is the fact that $1, $2, etc. are all referring to the function's arguments, not the shell script's arguments. Since the shell works that way, and getopts uses $1, $2, etc., you're using the function's arguments with getopts, not the script's arguments. In other words, confining your option processing to a shell function is not a good idea.

answered May 31, 2014 at 23:04

user539810

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2 Comments

mklement0 Over a year ago

+1; I guess it's fine to use a function if you invoke it with getOptions "$@" to pass the script's arguments through.

user3695760 Over a year ago

That makes sense. Thank you so much! I always forget not to put spaces in between ...

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