bash: passing params from $3 onwards to another program (say tar)

Question

let's say my script takes filenames starting from $3

e.g.

archive u 2342 a.txt b.png c.html d.js
archive u 2222 a.txt b.png

I want to zip all the files listed starting from $3 How can I do that?

thanks

Answer 1

The bash command shift is your friend.

The script example.sh

#!/bin/bash
shift 3
echo $*

called with example.sh 1 2 3 4 5 will output 4 5.

Answer 2

zip archivename.zip "${@:3}"

Answer 3

FIRST=$1
shift

SECOND=$1
shift

echo $FIRST
echo $SECOND
echo tar cf archive.tar "$@"

Input:

./test.sh 1 2 3 4 5

Output:

1
2
tar cf archive.tar 3 4 5