Ubuntu – How to pass an array as function argument

bash

Struggling for a while passing an array as argument but it's not working anyway. I've tried like below: 

#! /bin/bash

function copyFiles{
   arr="$1"
   for i in "${arr[@]}";
      do
          echo "$i"
      done

}

array=("one" "two" "three")

copyFiles $array

An answer with explanation would be nice.

Edit: Basically, i will eventually call the function from another script file. Plz explain the constraints if possible.

Best Answer

  • Expanding an array without an index only gives the first element, use

    copyFiles "${array[@]}"

    instead of

    copyFiles $array

  • Use a she-bang

    #!/bin/bash

  • Use the correct function syntax

    Valid variants are 

    function copyFiles {…}
function copyFiles(){…}
function copyFiles() {…}

    instead of

    function copyFiles{…}

  • Use the right syntax to get the array parameter

    arr=("$@")

    instead of 

    arr="$1"

Therefore

#!/bin/bash
function copyFiles() {
   arr=("$@")
   for i in "${arr[@]}";
      do
          echo "$i"
      done

}

array=("one 1" "two 2" "three 3")

copyFiles "${array[@]}"

Output is (my script has the name foo)

$ ./foo   
one 1
two 2
three 3
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