*Configuration Information [Automatically generated, do not change]:Machine: x86_64OS: linux-gnuCompiler: gccCompilation CFLAGS: -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/bash-LQgi2O/bash-5.0=. -f$uname output: Linux amdubuntu 5.0.0-29-generic #31-Ubuntu SMP Thu Sep 12 13:05$Machine Type: x86_64-pc-linux-gnuBash Version: 5.0Patch Level: 3Release Status: release*
A description of the bug behaviour. If you don't access the ARGV array before you drop into a function, ARGV is not populated. E.g. If the script below is named test.bsh If I run: $> test.bsh arg1 arg1val arg2 arg2val arg3 arg3val *I expect the following output: * inside the options handler with i = 5, BASH_ARGV[5] is arg1, BASH_ARGV[] is arg3val inside the options handler with i = 4, BASH_ARGV[4] is arg1val, BASH_ARGV[] is arg3val inside the options handler with i = 3, BASH_ARGV[3] is arg2, BASH_ARGV[] is arg3val inside the options handler with i = 2, BASH_ARGV[2] is arg2val, BASH_ARGV[] is arg3val inside the options handler with i = 1, BASH_ARGV[1] is arg3, BASH_ARGV[] is arg3val inside the options handler with i = 0, BASH_ARGV[0] is arg3val, BASH_ARGV[] is arg3val Instead nothing is printed. If you uncomment the echo at the top of the script then the printing is as expected. I realize the Bash Documentation states: BASH_ARGV An array variable containing all of the parameters in the current bash execution call stack. The final parameter of the last subroutine call is at the top of the stack; the first parameter of the initial call is at the bottom. When a subroutine is executed, the parameters supplied are pushed onto BASH_ARGV. The shell sets BASH_ARGV only when in ex‐ tended debugging mode (see the description of the extdebug option to the shopt builtin below). Setting extdebug after the shell has started to execute a script, or *referencing this variable when extdebug is not set, may result in inconsistent values.* Many people are using BASH_ARGV: e.g. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2740906/how-to-access-command-line-arguments-of-the-caller-inside-a-function If it's not too much trouble I think a lot of people would be glad if you could make this work in a standardized way. A short script or ‘recipe’ which exercises the bug and may be used to reproduce it. > #!/bin/bash > ## If you uncomment the next line, command line args are printed; > #echo "inside top version_ctl, args:${BASH_ARGV[@]}, # > args:${#BASH_ARGV[@]} " > function process_options() { > local -i i=0 > local CURVAL="" > local NEXTVAL="" > for((i=$((${#BASH_ARGV[@]}-1));i>=0;i--)); do > CURVAL=${BASH_ARGV[${i}]} > NEXTVAL=${BASH_ARGV[$((${i}-1))]} > echo "inside the options handler with i = $i, BASH_ARGV[${i}] is > ${BASH_ARGV[${i}]}, BASH_ARGV[${next_arg}] is ${BASH_ARGV[${next_arg}]} " > done > return ${RETURN_CODE} > } > > process_options > exit 0