Korn Shell Programming by Example

Scalar

Two types of variables exist in the Korn shell. The first is a string; the second is a number. Of the numbers, two types are available: integers and floating-point. Most Korn shell implementations support integer numbers only. Korn shell 93, however, supports floating-point numbers. Integers are whole numbers, such as 14 and -999. Floating-points are numbers that can contain a fraction, such as 3.14159 or -99.54.

A scalar is your basic name-value pair that has been discussed in this book. A scalar has a varname and a value. That value can be accessed and assigned by the programmer, as is shown in the next two sections.

Accessing

To this point, the discussion has indicated that a variable has a value. The question therefore becomes, How ...