What Is the Purpose of Shift Command in Linux?
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The shift command in UNIX is used to move the command line arguments to one position left. The first argument is lost when you use the shift command. Shifting command line arguments is useful when you perform a similar action to all arguments one-by-one, without changing the variable name.

What is shift command?

The shift command is one of the Bourne shell built-ins that comes with Bash. This command takes one argument, a number. The positional parameters are shifted to the left by this number, N. … Say you have a command that takes 10 arguments, and N is 4, then $4 becomes $1, $5 becomes $2 and so on.

What is shift command in shell script?

Shift is a builtin command in bash which after getting executed, shifts/move the command line arguments to one position left. … This command takes only one integer as an argument. This command is useful when you want to get rid of the command line arguments which are not needed after parsing them.

Maya Lin-Takahashi

Maya Lin-Takahashi

Consumer Tech & Gadget Reviewer

Maya is a hardware enthusiast who tests and reviews smart home devices, smartphones, wearables, and audio gear. She focuses on practical consumer value and build quality.

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