Propagate all arguments in a bash shell script

Solution 1:

Use "$@" instead of plain $@ if you actually wish your parameters to be passed the same.

Observe:

$ cat no_quotes.sh
#!/bin/bash
echo_args.sh $@

$ cat quotes.sh
#!/bin/bash
echo_args.sh "$@"

$ cat echo_args.sh
#!/bin/bash
echo Received: $1
echo Received: $2
echo Received: $3
echo Received: $4

$ ./no_quotes.sh first second
Received: first
Received: second
Received:
Received:

$ ./no_quotes.sh "one quoted arg"
Received: one
Received: quoted
Received: arg
Received:

$ ./quotes.sh first second
Received: first
Received: second
Received:
Received:

$ ./quotes.sh "one quoted arg"
Received: one quoted arg
Received:
Received:
Received:

Solution 2:

For bash and other Bourne-like shells:

java com.myserver.Program "$@"

Solution 3:

Use "$@" (works for all POSIX compatibles).

[...] , bash features the "$@" variable, which expands to all command-line parameters separated by spaces.

From Bash by example.

Solution 4:

I realize this has been well answered but here's a comparison between "$@" $@ "$*" and $*

Contents of test script:

# cat ./test.sh
#!/usr/bin/env bash
echo "================================="

echo "Quoted DOLLAR-AT"
for ARG in "$@"; do
    echo $ARG
done

echo "================================="

echo "NOT Quoted DOLLAR-AT"
for ARG in $@; do
    echo $ARG
done

echo "================================="

echo "Quoted DOLLAR-STAR"
for ARG in "$*"; do
    echo $ARG
done

echo "================================="

echo "NOT Quoted DOLLAR-STAR"
for ARG in $*; do
    echo $ARG
done

echo "================================="

Now, run the test script with various arguments:

# ./test.sh  "arg with space one" "arg2" arg3
=================================
Quoted DOLLAR-AT
arg with space one
arg2
arg3
=================================
NOT Quoted DOLLAR-AT
arg
with
space
one
arg2
arg3
=================================
Quoted DOLLAR-STAR
arg with space one arg2 arg3
=================================
NOT Quoted DOLLAR-STAR
arg
with
space
one
arg2
arg3
=================================

Solution 5:

A lot answers here recommends $@ or $* with and without quotes, however none seems to explain what these really do and why you should that way. So let me steal this excellent summary from this answer:

+--------+---------------------------+
| Syntax |      Effective result     |
+--------+---------------------------+
|   $*   |     $1 $2 $3 ... ${N}     |
+--------+---------------------------+
|   $@   |     $1 $2 $3 ... ${N}     |
+--------+---------------------------+
|  "$*"  |    "$1c$2c$3c...c${N}"    |
+--------+---------------------------+
|  "$@"  | "$1" "$2" "$3" ... "${N}" |
+--------+---------------------------+

Notice that quotes makes all the difference and without them both have identical behavior.

For my purpose, I needed to pass parameters from one script to another as-is and for that the best option is:

# file: parent.sh
# we have some params passed to parent.sh 
# which we will like to pass on to child.sh as-is

./child.sh $*

Notice no quotes and $@ should work as well in above situation.