Bash script not detecting second argument

Question

I'm making a page generator in bash. When checking for argument $2 to use as title of the page i'm generating, it finds nothing and echo the "No title supplied..." line.

Here is the snippet containing $2:

header() {
echo "<!DOCTYPE html>" > $filename.html
echo "<html>" >> $filename.html
echo "<head>" >> $filename.html
if [ -z "$2" ]; then
    echo "No title supplied. Using name of the file."
    echo "  <title>$filename</title>" >> $filename.html
else
    echo "  <title>$2</title>" >> $filename.html
fi
echo "  <link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"styles.css\">" >> $filename.html
echo "</head>" >> $filename.html
echo "<body>" >> $filename.html
echo "" >> $filename.html
}

Here is the link to the full script: https://ghostbin.co/paste/p8qpx

Neither call to header is given any arguments, let alone a 2nd argument. The function cannot see the script's positional arguments, if that is what you are referring to. — chepner
– chepner, Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 14:42
As an aside, I'd recommend a command group to avoid having to constantly (re)open $filename.html: { echo ...; echo ...; ...; } > $filename.html. The "no title supplied" line should be written to standard error (echo "No title..." >&2). — chepner
– chepner, Commented Apr 21, 2020 at 14:44

CycleOfTheAbsurd · Accepted Answer · 2020-04-21 14:42:16Z

2

Inside a function, $2 refers to the second argument of that function, not of the whole script. So you have to pass that as a parameter when calling header

Like this

header "$2"

Then, inside your function, it will be $1 since it will be the first parameter of that function call.

answered Apr 21, 2020 at 14:42

CycleOfTheAbsurd

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