passing an array as argument to shell script

I have something like this.

for client in arg
do
ssh qsapp "ptree $client" >> results.temp.$$
for process in process1 process2 process3
do
if grep $process results.temp.$$ >/dev/null
then
: # Process Exists
else
echo $client $process missing >> client_report.out
fi
done

done
rm results.temp.$$  


But how would I invoke the shell script. I want the user to supply the list of clients as comma separated array to the script as argument.

can you have the user supply the list of clients as whitespace separated array to the script as arguments?

whitespace is ok. But if comma separated it would be better.

If they are whitespace separated, you could just say
for client
do
...

If they are comma separated, can you guarantee that there won't be whitespace around the comma?
Or that the entire list will be quoted?

But I need to pass even the machine name for ssh as one of the arguments. How would I differentiate between the clients and machine name if the separator is whitespace?

you can include a space as part of a parameter if you quote it with '' or "" or \

you can shift the first n parameters and do  something different with the remaining parameters

While you could strictly speaking pass an array to a shell script, I don't know anyone who would bother setting up the array first.  Much easier to just pass parameters.

If you really want a comma separated list, then invoking the following code as

script.ksh server1,server2,server3

should do what you need.  If not, please supply an example of the parameters you want to pass.

#!/bin/ksh
IFS=","
for arg in $*
do
  echo "$arg"
done
                                              

1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:

I want to invoke the script

script.ksh servername client1, client2, client3

script:

for client in argument2
do
ssh argument1 "ptree $client" >> results.temp.$$
for process in process1 process2 process3
do
if grep $process results.temp.$$ >/dev/null
then
: # Process Exists
else
echo $client $process missing >> client_report.out
fi
done

done
rm results.temp.$$  

I want something like this.

actually the job is going to be set up in autosys.

If you invoke it with spaces after the commas like that, you could do

#!/usr/bin/ksh
server=$1
shift
for client
do
client=${client%,}
ssh argument1 "ptree $client" >> results.temp.$$
for process in process1 process2 process3
do
if grep $process results.temp.$$ >/dev/null
then
: # Process Exists
else
echo $client $process missing >> client_report.out
fi
done

done
rm results.temp.$$  


But I'm not sure you want >> results.temp.$$

#!/bin/ksh

server=$1
shift
for client
do
client=${client%,}
ssh server "ptree $client" > results.temp.$$
for process in process1 process2
do
if grep $process results.temp.$$ >/dev/null
then
: # Process Exists
else
echo $client $process missing >> client_report.out
fi
done
done
rm results.temp.$$


And I executed the script script.ksh servername client1,client2,client3

gives an error ssh: server: host/servname not known

But I can ssh to that servername outside the script. Please advise.

#!/bin/ksh

server=$1
shift
for client
do
client=${client%,}
ssh $server "ptree $client" > results.temp.$$
for process in process1 process2
do
if grep $process results.temp.$$ >/dev/null
then
: # Process Exists
else
echo $client $process missing >> client_report.out
fi
done
done
rm results.temp.$$

when I try to print $1 it print client1, client2.

when do you try to print $1, and what do you want it to print?

$1 is the servername right? I need to ssh to that servername. If i execute the script

script.ksh servername client1,client2 it should

ssh to the servername and loop through the clients isn't it?

that's different from what you said before.  you said
I want to invoke the script

script.ksh servername client1, client2, client3
with spaces after the ,
that makes each client, a different parameter
if you do
script.ksh servername client1,client2
with no space, that makes client1,client2 a single parameter

Yes I want to invoke the script with spaces after the , such that each client is a different parameter. Sorry about the typo. But the first argument to the script is the servername where I want to ssh to. How do I retrieve that in the script?