What Unicode symbols are acceptable in BASH variable names?

Question

What Unicode symbols are acceptable in BASH variable names? Does the same list of symbols apply to CSH and TCSH?

I would like something like this dcl.hpi.uni-potsdam.de/home/loewis/table-3131.html if possible. — Devyn Collier Johnson, Jun 11 '13 at 12:47
This question is similar to http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17043894/what-unicode-symbols-are-accepted-in-python3-variable-names. — Devyn Collier Johnson, Jun 11 '13 at 12:48
I know that using odd symbols is not customary, but if we keep programming traditionally, then we keep get traditional programs. We need to think outside-of-the-box. — Devyn Collier Johnson, Jun 11 '13 at 12:49
I'm unable to find a definitive reference, but I suspect identifiers are limited to ASCII alphanumeric characters and the underscore. — chepner, Jun 11 '13 at 15:27

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 11 '13 at 12:57

3

I would say none.

á=3
á=3: command not found

If you like unicode symbol names, use Perl:

perl -e 'use utf8; $á = 42; print $á'
42

answered Jun 11 '13 at 12:57

choroba

1

@l0b0: Want to nitpick? Devyn asked for [Unicode symbols](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode_symbols), not characters. – choroba Jun 11 '13 at 14:17
1

+1 My bad - Clarified OP. I can honestly say I'd never heard of "Unicode symbols" as a *proper subset* of Unicode. – l0b0 Jun 11 '13 at 14:25

1 Answers1