Question

I can’t seem to find the difference between a script run two different ways.

Here’s the script (named test.sh):

#! /bin/bash
printf "%b\n" "\u5A"

When the script is sourced:

. test.sh
> Z         ## Result I want ##

When the script is run:

./test.sh
> \u5A      ## Result I get ##

I want the run script to give the results of the sourced script… what setting do I need to set/change?

Answer 1

HAHA!!! I finally traced down the problem! Read ahead if interested (leave the page if not).

These are the only command that will translate \u properly:

. ./test.sh                         ## Sourcing the script, hash-bang = #! /bin/sh
. ./test.bash                       ## Sourcing the script, hash-bang = #! /bin/bash
./test                              ## Running the script with no hash-bang

All of the following produce identical results in that they do NOT translate \u:

./test.sh                           ## Script is run from an interactive shell but in a non-interactive shell

## test.sh has first line: #! /bin/sh
/bin/sh -c "./test.sh"              ## Running the script in a non-interactive sh shell
/bin/sh -lc "./test.sh"             ## Running the script in a non-interactive, login sh shell
/bin/sh -c ". ./test.sh"            ## Sourcing the file in a non-interactive sh shell
/bin/sh -lc ". ./test.sh"           ## Sourcing the file in a non-interactive, login sh shell

## test.bash has first line: #! /bin/bash
/bin/bash -c "./test.bash"          ## Running the script in a non-interactive bash shell
/bin/bash -lc "./test.bash"         ## Running the script in a non-interactive, login bash shell
/bin/bash -c ". ./test.bash"        ## Sourcing the file in a non-interactive bash shell
/bin/bash -lc ". ./test.bash"       ## Sourcing the file in a non-interactive, login bash shell

## And from ***tripleee*** (thanks btw):
/bin/sh --norc; . ./test.sh         ## Sourcing from an interactive sh shell without the ~/.bashrc file read
/bin/bash --norc; . ./test.bash     ## Sourcing from an interactive bash shell without the ~/.bashrc file read

The only way to get proper translation is to run the script without a hash-bang… and I finally figured out why! Without a hash-bang my system chooses the default shell, which btw is NOT /bin/bash… it turns out to be /opt/local/bin/bash… two different versions of bash!

Finally, I removed the OSX /bin/bash [v3.2.48(1)] and replaced it with the MacPorts /opt/local/bin/bash [v4.2.10(2)] and now running the script works! It actually solved about 10-15 other problems I’ve had (like ${var,,}, read sN1 char, complete -EC "echo ' '", and a host of other commands I have scattered throughout my scripts, ~/.bashrc amd ~/.profile). Honestly, I really should have noticed when my scripts using associative arrays suddenly crapped out on me… how stupid can I get!?

I’ve been using bash v4 for a looong time now, and my Lion upgrade went and down-graded bash back to v3 (get with the program Apple!)… ugh, I feel so ashamed! Everyone still using bash v3, upgrade!! bash v4 is has many, many beautiful upgrades over version 3. Type bash --version to see what version you are running. One advantage is now bash can translate \uHEX into Unicode!