Whats wrong with my shell script when run with sudo?

Question

Here is the code

#file is named getpack2
count=0
while [ -n "$*" ] ; do
    ARRAY[${count}]=$1
    shift
    count=`expr $count + 1`
done

for t in "${ARRAY[@]}"; do
    mkdir $t
    cd $t
    touch hello
    cd ..
done

the line im using to run this is:

getpack2 vocals-doo flute-wood

this creates the desired directories and files

this will also work:

./getpack2 vocals-doo flute-wood

however, when I prefix the command with sudo:

sudo ./getpack2 vocals-doo flute-wood

it gives me the following errors

./getpack2: 7: ARRAY[0]=vocals-doo: not found
./getpack2: 7: ARRAY[1]=flute-wood: not found
./getpack2: 15: Bad Substitution

I'm very new to shell scripting. Just started learning it today. Is there some sort of scoping error?

Why are you computing the argument count? It is available in $# — William Pursell
– William Pursell, Commented Mar 4, 2012 at 0:48
Rather than doing "cd ..", you can cd in a subshell: mkdir $t; (cd $t; touch hello; ). The cd and touch happen in a different shell, and the original shell stays in the same directory. This is much less error prone (as the script grows in complexity, it becomes harder to keep track of the original directory and ensuring a cd back can become challenging.) — William Pursell
– William Pursell, Commented Mar 4, 2012 at 0:50

Diego Sevilla · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-03 22:44:54Z

5

Your superuser (root) may have a different shell that does not support arrays (for instance dash or some other small shell.) Try to program using only standard bourne shell constructs. Or include in the header of your script the interpreter to use:

#! /bin/bash

answered Mar 3, 2012 at 22:44

Diego Sevilla

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