I think an example is in order. Consider I have these two environment variables setup (by a Continuous Delivery tool): PACKAGE_VER=1.2.3 and USE_VERSION_FROM=PACKAGE_VER.
What I want now is a script that can’t predict the name of the variable pointing out 1.2.3, only USE_VERSION_FROM. And so, I’m looking for a way to get my script to know the version to use (1.2.3) without knowing anything other than that USE_VERSION_FROM points out the name of the variable that holds the version number.
My naïve non-working first attempt:
#!/bin/bash
VERSION_TO_USE="${${USE_VERSION_FROM}}"
Answers:
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Method 1
PACKAGE_VER=1.2.3
USE_VERSION_FROM=PACKAGE_VER
VERSION_TO_USE=${!USE_VERSION_FROM}
echo $VERSION_TO_USE
1.2.3
This is “indirect parameter expansion” as described in the bash manual
Note, it’s not strictly necessary to provide quotes on a variable assignment a=$b vs a="$b" — word splitting is not performed during an assignment (can’t find the reference for that just now)
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