bash getopts multiple arguments or default value

Question

So I have a question about get opts in bash. I want to get the value of the arguments if they are present but if they are not present to use a default value. So the script should take a directory and an integer but if they aren't specified then $PWD and 3 should be default values. Here is what

while getopts "hd:l:" opt; do case $opt in d ) directory=$OPTARG;; l ) depth=$OPTARG;; h ) usage exit 0;; \? ) usage exit 1;; esac

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-27 03:20:23Z

32

You can just provide default value before while loop:

directory=mydir depth=123 while getopts "hd:l:" opt; do case $opt in d ) directory=$OPTARG;; l ) depth=$OPTARG;; h ) usage exit 0;; *) usage exit 1;; esac done echo "<$directory> <$depth>"

answered Feb 27, 2014 at 3:20

anubhava

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9 Comments

Greg Over a year ago

So I did that (makes total sense) but the directory and depth never change

Greg Over a year ago

So if the argument exists then I want to change the variable directory to whatever is passed into option -d but if it is not present then just leave it at the current working directory.

anubhava Over a year ago

you can just do -d ) cd "$OPTARG";; for that

anubhava Over a year ago

it does change but shell scripts are run in a sub shell so changed directory is not reflected in parent shell

anubhava Over a year ago

also I need to humbly point that question was about setting default values which my answer provides. Would it not be better to ask a separate question about directory changing problem after accepting this answer.

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Puffy · Accepted Answer · 2021-08-30 21:36:04Z

After your getopts, try this

if [ -z "$directory" ]; then directory="directory"; fi

-z means if the variable $directory is null or empty. Then if user doesnt enter an argument for -d, then the script will default to directory="/whatever/files/"

At least if I understand your question correctly, this should give you a default value for -d if a value is not entered.

Please provide additional details in your answer. As it's currently written, it's hard to understand your solution.

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