How to pass an argument from a bash script to 'x-terminal-emulator -e bash -c'?

Question

Let's say I've got this script :

x-terminal-emulator -e bash -c 'echo hello > ~/text' 

I call it foo.sh and make it executable.

If I execute this script I'll have a text file in my home folder containing the word 'hello'.

Now if I modify it to this :

x-terminal-emulator -e bash -c 'echo $1 > ~/text' 

... and I execute it in a terminal like this :

./foo.sh hello 

I get a text file in my home folder containing nothing.

foo.sh receives 'hello' as the first and only argument ($1). So why doesn't bash receive it ? Is there a way to pass one or several arguments from foo.sh to bash ?

I tried to store the argument inside a variable name and then export it but it didn't change the result.

Answer 1

From man bash

 -c If the -c option is present, then commands are read from the first non-option argument command_string. If there are arguments after the command_string, they are assigned to the positional parameters, starting with $0.

So you can do

x-terminal-emulator -e bash -c 'echo $0 > ~/text' "$1" 

or (if you prefer to preserve the "usual" numbering of parameters)

x-terminal-emulator -e bash -c 'echo $1 > ~/text' _ "$1" 

where _ can be replaced with any dummy variable of your choice.

Answer 2

In bash -c 'echo $1 > ~/text', $1 was expanded in bash -c process, not in your script. You need to pass the original $1 to bash -c:

x-terminal-emulator -e "bash -c 'echo \$1 > ~/text' bash $1"