On Mon, 22 Sep 2025 10:43:27 -0400, Chet Ramey wrote:
> > > > + for ((i=1; i<=n; i++)); do
> > > > + "$@"
> > >
> > > You need the eval, otherwise something like
> > >
> > > repeat 5 v+=f
> > >
> > > fails.
> >
> > On the other hand, often you *don't* want the eval, because then
> > something like
> >
> > repeat 5 make CFLAGS="-g -O"
> >
> > or
> >
> > file="name has spaces.txt"
> > repeat 5 scp "$file" "$host:$dir/"
> >
> > fails.
>
> Yeah, that's the other side of using eval. You can quote your way out of
> this, but you can't evaluate a variable assignment without using eval.
With or without eval, or with any combination thereof, you still
won't be able to make a repeat function that covers all the bases.
For example, you won't be able to do this:
repeat { ((x++)); echo $x;}
Such a thing can only be done by a bash internal command, like...
time { ((x++)); echo $x;}
Which gives me a nice idea really: I'll try to patch time to take a `-n N'
option, i.e., run the pipeline N times before taking the final measurement.
But that's off-topic here. :-)
Thank you!
