In the world of Unix and Linux, Bash is a powerful and versatile shell that provides advanced scripting capabilities. One of the core features of Bash is parameter expansion, which is a method for transforming and manipulating the content of variables using the ${} syntax. In this article, we will dive into the various types of parameter expansions available in Bash and provide examples to illustrate their usage.
1. Basic Parameter Expansion
The most basic form of parameter expansion is to simply use {variable} to reference the value of a variable. For example:
1 2 | name="John Doe" echo "Hello, ${name}!" |
This script will output “Hello, John Doe!”. The use of ${} is optional when using simple variable names, but it is good practice to include it for clarity and consistency.
2. Default Value Expansion
You can provide a default value for a variable if it is not set or is null using the {variable:-default} syntax. For example:
1 2 | greeting=${name:-"World"} echo "Hello, ${greeting}!" |
If the variable ‘name’ is not set or is null, the default value “World” will be used.
3. Assign Default Value
Similar to the previous expansion, you can use the {variable:=default} syntax to assign a default value to a variable if it is not set or is null. For example:
1 2 | : {count:=0} echo "Current count: ${count}" |
If the variable ‘count’ is not set or is null, it will be assigned the value 0.
4. Error if Unset or Null
To raise an error if a variable is not set or is null, use the ${variable:?error_message} syntax. For example:
1 | echo "Hello, ${name:?Name is not set}!" |
This script will print an error message and exit if the variable ‘name’ is not set or is null.
5. String Length Expansion
To find the length of a string stored in a variable, use the ${#variable} syntax. For example:
1 2 | name="John Doe" echo "Name length: ${#name}" |
This script will output “Name length: 8”.
6. Substring Expansion
Substring expansion allows you to extract a portion of a string using the {variable:offset:length} syntax. For example:
1 2 | name="John Doe" echo "First name: ${name:0:4}" |
This script will output “First name: John”.
7. Substring Removal
Bash provides two forms of substring removal:
- Remove the shortest matching prefix pattern: {variable#pattern}
- Remove the longest matching prefix pattern: ${variable##pattern}
- Remove the shortest matching suffix pattern: ${variable%pattern}
- Remove the longest matching suffix pattern: ${variable%%pattern}
For example:
1 2 | filename="document.txt" echo "Without extension: ${filename%.*}" |
This script will output “Without extension: document“.
8. Search and Replace
To search for a pattern and replace it with another string, use the {variable/pattern/replacement} syntax. To replace all occurrences, use ${variable//pattern/replacement}. For example:
1 2 3 | text="The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain." echo "Replace 'rain' with 'sun': {text/rain/sun}" echo "Replace all 'ain': ${text//ain/ane}" |
This script will output:
Output:Replace 'rain' with 'sun': The sun in Spain falls mainly on the plain. Replace all 'ain': The rane in Spane falls manely on the plane.
9. Case Modification
Bash also supports modifying the case of strings with parameter expansion:
- Convert the first character to uppercase: {variable^}
- Convert the first character to lowercase: ${variable,}
- Convert all characters to uppercase: ${variable^^}
- Convert all characters to lowercase: ${variable,,}
For example:
1 2 3 4 5 | text="The Rain in Spain" echo "First character uppercase: {text^}" echo "First character lowercase: ${text,}" echo "All characters uppercase: ${text^^}" echo "All characters lowercase: ${text,,}" |
This script will output:
Output:First character uppercase: The Rain in Spain First character lowercase: the Rain in Spain All characters uppercase: THE RAIN IN SPAIN All characters lowercase: the rain in spain
10. Indirect Reference
Using parameter expansion, you can reference the value of a variable indirectly with ${!variable}. For example:
1 2 3 | name_var="name" name="John Doe" echo "Indirect reference: ${!name_var}" |
This script will output “Indirect reference: John Doe”.
Conclusion
Parameter expansion with ${} in Bash is a powerful and versatile feature that allows you to manipulate and transform variables with ease. By mastering the various types of parameter expansions, you can write more efficient and flexible Bash scripts to accomplish a wide range of tasks. Take the time to familiarize yourself with these expansions and incorporate them into your scripting toolkit to become a true Bash expert.
