SHIFT(1) General Commands Manual SHIFT(1)

shift — shift positional parameters

shift [n]

The positional parameters shall be shifted. Positional parameter 1 shall be assigned the value of parameter (1+n), parameter 2 shall be assigned the value of parameter (2+n), and so forth. The parameters represented by the numbers $# down to $#−n+1 shall be unset, and the parameter # shall be updated to reflect the new number of positional parameters. The value n shall be an unsigned decimal integer less than or equal to the value of the special parameter #. If n is not given, it shall be assumed to be 1. If n is 0, the positional and special parameters shall not be changed.

The exit status shall be >0 if n>$#; otherwise, it shall be zero.

Example: set a b c d e shift echo $∗ c d e

September 1991 posix.fail