function to call shell script with arguments

Question

I am making my own function to call a bash script that compiles and runs my program.

Here is the code I have tried.

function Compile_and_run(game, major, minor)
    !_compile a:game a:major a:minor
endfunction

The only issue is it seems to parse a:game instead of the value.

How would I get a:game, a:major, a:minor to parse their value to the function?

Answer 1

Using :execute

All command arguments in Vim are interpreted literally unless designed to be evaluated. To build a command dynamically, you can use :execute. Each argument to :execute is evaluated, and they are all joined by a space to produce the final command.

function Compile_and_run(game, major, minor)
    execute '!_compile' a:game a:major a:minor
endfunction

Incorporating shellescape()

It's a good idea to escape arguments being passed to the shell using shellescape(). It takes a string and escapes it for use in a shell command.

function Compile_and_run(game, major, minor)
    execute '!_compile' shellescape(a:game) shellescape(a:major) shellescape(a:minor)
endfunction