Test if a variable is set in bash when using “set -o nounset”

Question

The following code exits with a unbound variable error. How to fix this, while still using the set -o nounset option?

#!/bin/bash

set -o nounse         


        

Answer 1

#!/bin/bash

set -o nounset


VALUE=${WHATEVER:-}

if [ ! -z ${VALUE} ];
 then echo "yo"
fi

echo "whatever"

In this case, VALUE ends up being an empty string if WHATEVER is not set. We're using the {parameter:-word} expansion, which you can look up in man bash under "Parameter Expansion".