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| ### 22.2.5 . The semantics of ``.'` are rather peculiar to say the least. Here is a simple script -- it just displays its positional parameters:
    #! /bin/sh
    echo "$0" ${1+"$@"}
Put this in a file, ``foo'`. Here is another simple script -- it calls the first script. Put this in another file, ``wrapper'`:
    #! /bin/sh
    . ./foo
    . ./foo bar baz
Observe what happens when you run this from the command line:
    $ ./wrapper
    ./wrapper
    ./wrapper bar baz
So ``$0'` is inherited from the calling script, and the positional parameters are as passed to the command. Observe what happens when you call the wrapper script with arguments:
    $ ./wrapper 1 2 3
    ./wrapper 1 2 3
    ./wrapper bar baz
So the sourced script has access to the calling scripts positional parameters, unless you override them in the ``.'` command. This can cause no end of trouble if you are not expecting it, so you must either be careful to omit all parameters to any ``.'` command, or else don't reference the parameters inside the sourced script. If you are reexecuting your script with a shell that understands functions, the best use for the ``.'` command is to load libraries of functions which can subsequently be used in the calling script. Most importantly, don't forget that, if you call the `exit` command in a script that you load with ``.'`, it will cause the calling script to exit too!

This document was generated by Gary V. Vaughan on May, 24 2001 using texi2html