Passing parameters to a script

Question

How can I pass parameters to a script like that:

scriptname.ksh -p param1 -n param2 

I mean how can I tell my script to work with two parameters defined by -p and -n characters?

Answer 1

while getopts ":p:n:" Option; do
  case $Option in
    p)
      # do stuff
      # to access param1, use variable $OPTARG
      ;;
    n)
      # do stuff
      # $OPTARG again to access param2
      ;;
    \?)
      # default
      ;;
  esac
done
shift $(($OPTIND - 1))

In the first argument to getopts:

• leading : supresses getopts's own internal error reporting
• letters indicate options
• if a letter is followed by a :, it means it expects an $OPTARG

more information

getopts provides faculties for changing the name of the option argument variable.

note that getopts cannot process "long-form" arguments (--help etc.)