delay-arguments

#!/bin/bash

# Example:
# > delay-arguments echo 1 _ 3 4 2
# 1 2 3 4
# > delay-arguments echo "| o n e" _ "| t h r e e" "| f o u r" "| t w o"
# | o n e | t w o | t h r e e | f o u r

RAW_ARGS=("$@")

ARGS=()

ARG_DELAY_MARKER="_"
SKIPPED_ARGS=0
SKIPPED_ARG_NUM=0
RAW_ARGS_COUNT="$#"

for ARG in "$@"; do
  #echo $ARG
  if [[ "$ARG" == "$ARG_DELAY_MARKER" ]]; then
    SKIPPED_ARGS=$((SKIPPED_ARGS+1))
  fi
done

for ((I=0; I<$RAW_ARGS_COUNT-$SKIPPED_ARGS; I++)); do
  ARG="${RAW_ARGS[$I]}"
  if [[ "$ARG" == "$ARG_DELAY_MARKER" ]]; then
    MOVE_SOURCE_ARG_NUM=$(($RAW_ARGS_COUNT-$SKIPPED_ARGS+$SKIPPED_ARG_NUM))
    MOVING_ARG="${RAW_ARGS[$MOVE_SOURCE_ARG_NUM]}"
    if [[ "$MOVING_ARG" == "$ARG_DELAY_MARKER" ]]; then
      echo "Error: Not enough arguments!" >&2
      exit 1;
    fi
    #echo "Moving arg: $MOVING_ARG"
    ARGS+=("$MOVING_ARG")
    SKIPPED_ARG_NUM=$(($SKIPPED_ARG_NUM+1))
  else
    ARGS+=("$ARG")
  fi
done

#for ARG in "${ARGS[@]}"; do
  #echo "ARGN: $ARG"
#done

#echo "RAW_ARGS_COUNT: $RAW_ARGS_COUNT"
#echo "SKIPPED_ARGS: $SKIPPED_ARGS"

#echo "${ARGS[@]}"
QUOTED_ARGS=$(printf ' %q' "${ARGS[@]}")
eval "${QUOTED_ARGS[@]}"