Sometimes it comes in handy to modify a variable in a function by name. Usually the first tool people reach for in this case eval: # sets a variable to a new value setvar() { eval $(printf "%s=%q" "$1" "$2") } setvar x 2 printf "x=%s\n" "$x" # prints x=2 This works but making sure that everything is quoted correctly is cumbersome. Bash supports a safer way for this: namerefs To use a nameref you must declare a variable as a nameref using the -n argument. After that, any changes made to th...