On Thu, Apr 4, 2013 at 8:51 PM, konsolebox <konsole...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 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. > On second thought I think we still need the function since for declare -n: a) Reference variable could not be an array. b) Same risk is at hand if a variable name passed to the function is not valid thereby making the error "invalid variable name for name reference". So anyone could still abuse it. So adding a function like setvalue would still be a good thing for a general purpose.
