Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnewsh!ka@cbnewsh.ATT.COM
From: ka@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (Kenneth Almquist)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: sh functions with "local variables"
Message-ID: <1634@cbnewsh.ATT.COM>
Date: 21 Jun 89 18:35:00 GMT
References: <1397@marvin.Solbourne.COM> <1206@uceng.UC.EDU>
Sender: jgy@cbnewsh.ATT.COM
Reply-To: ka@hulk.att.com
Lines: 16

>+>Now, in modern versions of sh (post SVR2, I think), function parameters
>+>are local to the function, but there's no way to have local variables
>+>otherwise.

Function arguments were made local in SVR3.

>+>Now, if the function doesn't have any arguments, or if you can use
>+>the arguments early and get rid of them, you can use "set" to put
>+>values in $1-$9, which is one way to have local variables.  Still,
>+>real local variables would be great.

I expect that POSIX (P1003.2) will include local variables, created
using the "local" builtin command.  Ash (which I recently posted to
comp.sources.unix) supports local variables.  Ksh also supports them,
using the "typeset" builtin.
					Kenneth Almquist