On Mon, 9 Dec 2013, canito at dalan.us wrote: > grep --version > GNU grep 2.6.3 > > Pretty weird. I'll just assume user error. > > cat param.sh > #!/bin/bash > set -x > > echo $1 > FUNC=$1 > > grep -Eic -- "$FUNC" > > ./param.sh --test > > + echo --test > --test > > + FUNC=--test > > + grep -Eic -- --test > ^C > > It just hangs, which is weird. I was under the impression that one could > grep variables. It hangs because grep has no input. You need to pump some data into it, or add another argument for a filename. Try this: echo -e "--test\na\nb\n--test\n--tested" | ./param.sh --test That should return "3" (without the quotes!). Mike