# Arguments

A PDI argument is a named, user-supplied, single-value input given as a command line argument (running a transformation or job manually from Pan or Kitchen, or as part of a script). Each transformation or job can have a maximum of 10 arguments. Each argument is declared as space-separated values given after the rest of the Pan or Kitchen line:

```
sh pan.sh -file:/example_transformations/example.ktr argOne argTwo argThree
```

In the above example, the values **argOne**, **argTwo**, and **argThree** are passed into the transformation, where they will be handled according to the way the transformation is designed. If it was not designed to handle arguments, nothing will happen. Typically these values would be numbers, words (strings), or variables (system or script variables, not PDI variables).

In Spoon, you can test argument handling by defining a set of arguments when you run a transformation or job. This is accomplished by typing in values in the **Arguments** table, which is accessed through the **Arguments** button in the Run Options window.


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