Assigning default values to shell variables with a single command in bash

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Very close to what you posted, actually. You can use something called Bash parameter expansion to accomplish this.

To get the assigned value, or default if it’s missing:

FOO="${VARIABLE:-default}"  # If variable not set or null, use default.
# If VARIABLE was unset or null, it still is after this (no assignment done).

Or to assign default to VARIABLE at the same time:

FOO="${VARIABLE:=default}"  # If variable not set or null, set it to default.

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