Bash - Passing an Array to a Function

#!/bin/bash : ' Function to accept array as first param ' loopArray () { echo "First argument passed: "$1; # convert the first argument # from scalar to new array # NOTE: whitespace space acts as the delimiter _array=($1) # check for named arguments [-a || --array] for i in "$@" ; do case $i in -a=*|--array=*) a="${i#*=}" _array=($a) ;; esac done # loop through values for value in "${_array[@]}" ; do echo $value done } : ' define external list ' list=( 'a' 'b' 'c' 'two words' # this method won't work with spaces ) : ' Must pass the array as scalar values -- no spaces ' result=$(loopArray "${list[*]}"); echo $result loopArray "${list[*]}" loopArray -a="${list[*]}" loopArray --array="${list[*]}" : ' First argument passed: a b c two words a b c two words First argument passed: a b c two words a b c two words First argument passed: -a=a b c two words a b c two words First argument passed: --array=a b c two words a b c two words '