> > Another "feature" of this kind of construct is that you can put the name > of the variable-to-be-assigned into another variable: > > ptr=some_variable > setvalue "$ptr" "$foo" > > Which may be a good thing or a bad thing, but either way it's definitely > a thing that someone will (ab)use if it's available. >
Well I did considered that noting that many people already tend to use the eval hack just to assign values to variables carried inside another variable most likely through passing of functions.. > That said, I don't think bash needs this. Bash 4.3 is going to have > "namerefs" (declare -n) to allow passing arguments by reference to a > function. > I should have seen this sooner (have bash-devel but didn't check new features). I think it would be enough for the need. Thanks for telling me. Can't wait to use the feature soon. That would simplify many parts of my codes.
