Shell Script Question

[Alma J Wetzker]

David Bandel wrote:
> On 6/1/05, Brad De Vries <devriesbj at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>>Hey all, I have a shell scripting question I'm hoping someone can
>>answer for me.  Why doesn't a variable that is being set within a loop
>>retain its value when the loop is done?
> 
> 
> try Googling on something like "variable scope".  When you declare a
> variable in any language I'm familiar with (for example, Perl), a
> variable declared within a program subsection is local to that
> subsection and is destroyed when that subsection exits.  If you need a
> variable to have global scope (please, don't start making all your
> variables global), you need to declare it in a global context.  Perl
> also has the notion of importing and exporting when dealing with
> modules.
> 
> This can get sticky if you declare a global variable, and a called
> module uses the same variable.
[snip]
>>
>>What I'm expecting is that the variables "MORE", "TOTAL_LENGTH", and
>>"FILES" should retain the values being set within the while-loop but
>>they aren't.
>>
>>Any thoughts as to why?
> 
> 
> see my explanation above.  If you need variables to exit, you need to
> set return values to handle those returns.
> 
> 
>>TIA,
>>Brad.
>>
>>P.S. The break command doesn't affect anything.  If I comment it out
>>and let the loop run its course, all three variables resort back to
>>their original values exactly like when the break executes.
> 
> 
> All by design.  Again, if you need the values to be maintained, you
> need to return() those values.

I don't do much scripting beyond expect, can you have more than one 
return value to a script?  I counted three desired variables.  Is there 
a way to get all three out without going to global?

In C, I would pass two by reference and return the third.  Can you do 
weird stuff like that in a script?

     -- Alma