argument

• A parameter passed between a calling program and a called program. IBM.

• In a function call, an expression that represents a value that the calling function passes to the function specified in the call. Also called parameter.

• In the shell, a parameter passed to a utility as the equivalent of a single string in the argv array created by one of the exec functions. An argument is one of the options, option-arguments, or operands following the command name. X/Open.