When running bash as: bash -s foo bar
"$@" is not available inside .bashrc. Same for $ENV (POSIX conformance issue?), $BASH_ENV, or ~/.bash_profile (with bash --login -s). In the case of bash -c, that also affects $0. ksh88, ksh93, mksh, dash, zsh, posh, busybox sh can access $@ in $ENV Reproduce it with: $ echo 'echo "$0" "$#" "$@"' > rc $ (ENV=rc exec -a sh bash -s foo bar) sh 0 sh-4.4$ exit exit $ bash --rcfile rc -s foo bar bash 0 bash-4.4$ exit $ BASH_ENV=rc bash -c : arg0 foo bar bash 0 In some cases, one could work around it by using: PROMPT_COMMAND='. ./rc; unset PROMPT_COMMAND' bash -s foo bar Or pass the argument via some other mean like encoded in an environment variable. -- Stephane
