print value on console

Question

Looking for solution round this .

i have a script

a.bsh
#!/bin/bash
a=5
echo $a

this prints 5 when ever executed .

./a.bsh 5

i need to either look to update this script or use another away to get value 5 when i do on console

echo $a

i tried updating .bashrc with

alias a=5

but it didnt work . Also we can use set in this somehow ?

please advice

I'm not sure I understand your question. Is the value always 5? Do you just need a variable that holds the number 5? Why do you need a script that all it does it printing a constant number? Have you tried export a=5? — aviro, Dec 13 '21 at 07:58

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Dec 13 '21 at 08:40

1

If you want to echo the value which you provide via command line you can use something like:

./a.bsh 5

and the script itself:

#! /bin/sh -
printf '%s\n' "$1"

Also remember:

parameter expansions must be quoted in sh / bash
no need for bash for such a simple script, using sh makes it more portable (to systems that don't have bash or don't have it in /bin) and likely more efficient.
echo can't be used to output arbitrary data.

edited Dec 13 '21 at 08:40

answered Dec 13 '21 at 08:19

Romeo Ninov

4

Don't teach beginners bad practices, always quote a variable unless you unless you really understand how word-splitting in shell works. – Arkadiusz Drabczyk Dec 13 '21 at 08:22
Can you help with what you actually mean by word-splitting here ? – Machine Dec 13 '21 at 18:25
@Machine, you can check this Q/A: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/68694/when-is-double-quoting-necessary – Romeo Ninov Dec 13 '21 at 18:41

1 Answers1