Re: local but persistent integer?

[Ray Andrews <rayandrews@eastlink.ca>]

On 2022-09-16 14:41, Bart Schaefer wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 16, 2022 at 12:43 PM Ray Andrews <rayandrews@eastlink.ca> wrote:
>> On 2022-09-16 10:44, Bart Schaefer wrote:
>>> On Fri, Sep 16, 2022 at 8:19 AM Ray Andrews <rayandrews@eastlink.ca> wrote:
>>>>            integer -x start="$(( $(date +%s%N)/1000000 ))"
>>>>
>>>> ... I need 'start' to persist between function calls which it does
>>> Given that construct, it should not.
>> ... so it's visible externally as you say, but it's not going away either.
> Hm, this is possibly a bug, but it's also possibly an expected
> side-effect of "export" that I've forgotten about.  My previous
> statement is correct for string-scalars created with "typeset" and
> "local" etc., but "integer" behaves differently.
Counter intuitive for sure.  I'd call it a gotcha.
>   I think this is
> related to preserving the attributes of the variable (i.e., even if
> unset, it remains an integer, so if you assign to it again it acts
> like one) about which I believe I recall some discussion, but I don't
> recall when it was implemented.
>
> In any case it's not reliable to expect locally-declared variables to
> behave this way, and I'd still recommend using -g or -gH instead of
> -x.
Ok, I'll experiment with that, tho at the moment what I don't know isn't 
hurting me.
Thanks Bart.