how to pass list to function call from within another function

Question

I have two functions and im trying to figure out how to pass a list to a function call from within another function

func1{
files=()

$(func2 ${files[@]})
}

func2{
#do something with the list
}

Technically, you cannot pass the array as a single argument; you can only expand the array and pass each element as a separate argument. — chepner
– chepner, Commented Jun 29, 2020 at 17:53
For example, you couldn't do func2 "${files1[@]}" "${files2[@]}" and have func2 know where the arguments from files1 end and the arguments from files2 begin. — chepner
– chepner, Commented Jun 29, 2020 at 17:54

Ted Lyngmo · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-29 17:26:44Z

2

Make sure you have quotes (") around your list when you do the call to preserve any spaces that might be in the individual strings in the list.

Example:

#!/bin/bash

function func1 {
    files=("foo bar" "hello world")

    func2 "${files[@]}"
}

function func2 {
    for var in "$@"; do
        echo ">$var<"
    done
}

func1

Output:

>foo bar<
>hello world<

answered Jun 29, 2020 at 17:26

Ted Lyngmo

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