Dynamic variable names in Bash

Question

I am confused about a bash script.

I have the following code:

function grep_search() {
    magic_way_to_define_magic_variable_$1=`ls | tail -1`
    e         


        

Answer 1

Use declare

There is no need on using prefixes like on other answers, neither arrays. Use just declare, double quotes, and parameter expansion.

I often use the following trick to parse argument lists contanining one to n arguments formatted as key=value otherkey=othervalue etc=etc, Like:

# brace expansion just to exemplify
for variable in {one=foo,two=bar,ninja=tip}
do
  declare "${variable%=*}=${variable#*=}"
done
echo $one $two $ninja 
# foo bar tip

But expanding the argv list like

for v in "$@"; do declare "${v%=*}=${v#*=}"; done

---

Extra tips

# parse argv's leading key=value parameters
for v in "$@"; do
  case "$v" in ?*=?*) declare "${v%=*}=${v#*=}";; *) break;; esac
done
# consume argv's leading key=value parameters
while (( $# )); do
  case "$v" in ?*=?*) declare "${v%=*}=${v#*=}";; *) break;; esac
  shift
done