bash Quick Reference

Name

readonly

Synopsis

readonly [-afp] [variable[=value] …]

Prevent the specified shell variables from being assigned new values. An initial value may be supplied using the assignment syntax, but that value may not be changed subsequently. Read-only variables may not be unset.

Options

-a

Each variable must refer to an array.

-f

Each variable must refer to a function.

-p

Print readonly before printing the names and values of read-only variables. This allows saving a list of read-only variables for rereading later.