Convert command line arguments into an array in Bash

Question

How do I convert command-line arguments into a bash script array?

I want to take this:

./something.sh arg1 arg2 arg3

and convert it

Answer 1

Actually your command line arguments are practically like an array already. At least, you can treat the $@ variable much like an array. That said, you can convert it into an actual array like this:

myArray=( "$@" )

If you just want to type some arguments and feed them into the $@ value, use set:

$ set -- apple banana "kiwi fruit"
$ echo "$#"
3
$ echo "$@"
apple banana kiwi fruit

Understanding how to use the argument structure is particularly useful in POSIX sh, which has nothing else like an array.