# bash(1)
## Expansion
### Generator
```bash
# generate sequence from n to m
{n..m}
# generate sequence from n to m step by s
{n..m..s}
# expand cartesian product
{a,b}{c,d}
```
### Parameter
```bash
# default value
bar=${foo:-some_val} # if $foo set, then bar=$foo else bar=some_val
# alternate value
bar=${foo:+bla $foo} # if $foo set, then bar="bla $foo" else bar=""
# check param set
bar=${foo:?msg} # if $foo set, then bar=$foo else exit and print msg
# indirect
FOO=foo
BAR=FOO
bar=${!BAR} # deref value of BAR -> bar=$FOO
# prefix
${foo#prefix} # remove prefix when expanding $foo
# suffix
${foo%suffix} # remove suffix when expanding $foo
# substitute
${foo/pattern/string} # replace pattern with string when expanding foo
# pattern starts with
# '/' replace all occurences of pattern
# '#' pattern match at beginning
# '%' pattern match at end
```
> Note: `prefix`/`suffix`/`pattern` are expanded as [pathnames](#pathname).
### Pathname
```bash
* match any string
? match any single char
\\ match backslash
[abc] match any char of 'a' 'b' 'c'
[a-z] match any char between 'a' - 'z'
[^ab] negate, match all not 'a' 'b'
[:class:] match any char in class, available:
alnum,alpha,ascii,blank,cntrl,digit,graph,lower,
print,punct,space,upper,word,xdigit
```
Wit `extglob` shell option enabled it is possible to have more powerful
patterns. In the following `pattern-list` is one ore more patterns separated
by `|` char.
```bash
?(pattern-list) matches zero or one occurrence of the given patterns
*(pattern-list) matches zero or more occurrences of the given patterns
+(pattern-list) matches one or more occurrences of the given patterns
@(pattern-list) matches one of the given patterns
!(pattern-list) matches anything except one of the given patterns
```
> Note: `shopt -s extglob`/`shopt -u extglob` to enable/disable `extglob`
> option.
## I/O redirection
> Note: The trick with bash I/O redirection is to interpret from left-to-right.
```bash
# stdout & stderr to file
command >file 2>&1
# equivalent
command &>file
# stderr to stdout & stdout to file
command 2>&1 >file
```
### Explanation
```bash
j>&i
```
Duplicate `fd i` to `fd j`, making `j` a copy of `i`. See [dup2(2)][dup2].
Example:
```bash
command 2>&1 >file
```
1. duplicate `fd 1` to `fd 2`, effectively redirecting `stderr` to `stdout`
2. redirect `stdout` to `file`
## Argument parsing with `getopts`
The `getopts` builtin uses following global variables:
- `OPTARG`, value of last option argument
- `OPTIND`, index of the next argument to process (user must reset)
- `OPTERR`, display errors if set to `1`
```bash
getopts <optstring> <param> [<args>]
```
- `<optstring>` specifies the names of supported options, eg `f:c`
- `f:` means `-f` option with an argument
- `c` means `-c` option without an argument
- `<param>` specifies a variable name which `getopts` fills with the last parsed option argument
- `<args>` optionally specify argument string to parse, by default `getopts` parses `$@`
### Example
```bash
#!/bin/bash
function parse_args() {
while getopts "f:c" PARAM; do
case $PARAM in
f) echo "GOT -f $OPTARG";;
c) echo "GOT -c";;
*) echo "ERR: print usage"; exit 1;;
esac
done
# users responsibility to reset OPTIND
OPTIND=0
}
parse_args -f xxx -c
parse_args -f yyy
```
## Regular Expressions
Bash supports regular expression matching with the binary operator `=~`.
The match results can be accessed via the `$BASH_REMATCH` variable:
- `${BASH_REMATCH[0]}` contains the full match
- `${BASH_REMATCH[1]}` contains match of the first capture group
```bash
INPUT='title foo : 1234'
REGEX='^title (.+) : ([0-9]+)$'
if [[ $INPUT =~ $REGEX ]]; then
echo "${BASH_REMATCH[0]}" # title foo : 1234
echo "${BASH_REMATCH[1]}" # foo
echo "${BASH_REMATCH[2]}" # 1234
fi
```
> **Caution**: When specifying a `regex` in the `[[ ]]` block directly, quotes will be treated as part of the pattern.
> `[[ $INPUT =~ "foo" ]]` will match against `"foo"` not `foo`!
## Completion
The `complete` builtin is used to interact with the completion system.
```bash
complete # print currently installed completion handler
complete -F <func> <cmd> # install <func> as completion handler for <cmd>
complete -r <cmd> # uninstall completion handler for <cmd>
```
Variables available in completion functions:
```bash
# in
$1 # <cmd>
$2 # current word
$3 # privous word
COMP_WORDS # array with current command line words
COMP_CWORD # index into COMP_WORDS with current cursor position
# out
COMPREPLY # array with possible completions
```
The `compgen` builtin is used to generate possible matches by comparing `word`
against words generated by `option`.
```bash
compgen <option> <word>
# usefule options:
# -W <list> specify list of possible completions
# -d generate list with dirs
# -f generate list with files
# -u generate list with users
# -e generate list with exported variables
# compare "f" against words "foo" "foobar" "bar" and generate matches
compgen -W "foo foobar bar" "f"
# compare "hom" against file/dir names and generate matches
compgen -d -f "hom"
```
### Example
Skeleton to copy/paste for writing simple completions.
Assume a program `foo` with the following interface:
```bash
foo -c green|red|blue -s low|high -f <file> -h
```
The completion handler could be implemented as follows:
```bash
function _foo() {
local curr=$2
local prev=$3
local opts="-c -s -f -h"
case $prev in
-c) COMPREPLY=( $(compgen -W "green red blue" -- $curr) );;
-s) COMPREPLY=( $(compgen -W "low high" -- $curr) );;
-f) COMPREPLY=( $(compgen -f -- $curr) );;
*) COMPREPLY=( $(compgen -W "$opts" -- $curr) );;
esac
}
complete -F _foo foo
```
[dup2]: http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man2/dup.2.html
