Difference Between $* and $@ in Shell Scripting

While scripting we need to pass previous command line arguments to new script which we are calling inside the first one. In this case, we are using $* and $@ parameters to pass previous arguments to new script. Take one example, about these parameters.

$vi test.sh

echo $*;

echo "#################";

echo $@;

$sh test.sh "First Argument" "Second Argument"

Output is as follows:

First Argument Second Argument

#################

First Argument Second Argument

With this example you are not able to understand the difference between them.

The actual difference between them is the $* considers all arguments as a one string and $@ considers the each quoted string as single argument. You will understand this thing by one more example.

$vi test.sh

for i in "$*"

do

echo $i ;

done

echo "for loop completed of \$*";

for i in "$@"

do

echo $i;

done

echo "for loop completed of \$@";

if you run this script with as :

$sh test.sh "First Argument" "Second Argument"

Output of this as follows:

First Argument Second Argument

for loop completed of $*

First Argument

Second Argument

For loop completed of $@

Above output shows that $* is considering all arguments as one string. And whole string assigns to one variable only. But $@ is considering quoted string as a single argument and displaying there two arguments as it is.             

Read more about the bash shell ....