A script is called with two arguments: `./run.sh "annual report" 2026`. How does `"$@"` differ from `"$*"` when the script passes them on to another command?
LPIC-1 Exam 102-500, objective 105. Shells and shell scripting hard
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The options
Not correct They are identical; the two spellings are aliases for each other.
Wrong. Unquoted they behave alike, but quoted they differ, and quoting them is exactly what correct scripts do.
Not correct "$@" gives one word per argument and "$*" additionally drops empty arguments.
Wrong about "$*". It does not filter arguments; it concatenates all of them, empty ones included, into a single word.
Not correct "$@" includes $0 while "$*" does not.
Wrong. Neither includes $0. Both expand only the positional parameters starting at $1.
Correct "$@" expands to two separate words, `annual report` and `2026`, while "$*" expands to the single word `annual report 2026`.
Correct. "$@" preserves argument boundaries, one word per parameter. "$*" joins all parameters into one word, separated by the first character of IFS, normally a space.
Why
Use "$@" whenever you forward arguments, since it is the only form that keeps an argument containing spaces intact. "$*" is useful when you deliberately want one string, for example in a log message. Unquoted, $@ and $* behave the same and both split on whitespace, which loses the boundaries again.
Where this comes from
- Cited
- LPI exam objective 105.2
- What it says
- Pass the script's arguments on to other commands correctly.
Practise this
Reading one question is not practice. The trainer will draw a set from objective 105 and space the ones you get wrong.