What does this bash syntax mean? (Featuring: case, exec)

Question

What is the purpose of this bash script? (It is a portion of a larger script.)

if [ $# -gt 0 ]
then
  case $1 in
  -*) ;;
  *) exec $* ;;
esac
fi

A related question:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2046762/problem-with-metamap-inappropriate-ioctl-for-device

Answer 1

In English, line-by-line:

if the number of arguments is greater than 0
then
if the first argument...
  starts with '-', do nothing
  else, "exec" the arguments (run the entire set of arguments as a command replacing this process, not as a child process)
(end of case)
(end of if)

Answer 2

Not knowing any bash scripting I'd say this

• looks for whether the number of arguments is larger than 0
• if it is, it looks at the first argument
  • If it starts with - it does nothing
  • Otherwise it executes all arguments as a single command line