bash shell script declaring/creating arrays
Contributed by qmchenry 
Tagged: Bourne shell scripting The use of array variable structures can be invaluable. This recipe describes several methods for declaring arrays in bash scripts.
The following are methods for declaring arrays:
names=( Jennifer Tonya Anna Sadie )
This creates an array called names with four elements (Jennifer, Tonya, Anna, and Sadie).
names=( "John Smith" "Jane Doe" )
This creates two array elements, each containing a space.
colors[0] = red
colors[3] = green
colors[4] = blue
This declares three elements of an array using nonsequential index values and creates a sparse array (there are no array elements for index values 1 or 2).
filearray=( `cat filename | tr '\n' ' '`)
This example places the contents of the file filename into an array. The tr command converts newlines to spaces so that multiline files will be handled properly.
names=( "${names[@]}" "Molly" )
This example adds another element to an existing array names.
If anyone has other techniques for creating or adding to arrays, add a comment to this recipe and share the wealth!
You may also like -
bash shell script accessing array variables
Set an environment variable in Korn shell (ksh)
Mac OS X change the terminal window title
bash shell script iterate through array values
Set environment variables in Bourne shell (sh)
Loop over a set of files from the shell
CVS: set CVSROOT environment variable
Determine if a file is writable by a Bourne script user
Barun said on December 8, 2008
Wow!!! The trick for initializing an array from a file is superb!
Punit said on December 16, 2008
Here is another method of adding elements in the array.. It works best with korn shell
set -A array_example 1 2 3 4 5
i=0
echo ${array_example[$i]}
secoif said on January 22, 2009
One way to merge two arrays:
#existing array
existing=(item1, item2, item3);
#items to merge (including an item requiring correct quoting)
merge=(item4 item5 “${item6}*”);
count=${#existing[@]};
num_new_items=${#merge[@]};
# this loop appends items to the end of the array
for (( i=0;i
Erik J said on January 29, 2009
Reading a line, while preseriving whitespaces seems har dto do from a file
You can do it this way:
cat $file | while read line; do
echo “$line”;
done
Manav said on April 13, 2009
Good one
bob.experience said on April 28, 2009
Well done man! Thanks for the tip!
asd said on November 11, 2009
asdasdasd
Aparnacomp said on July 12, 2010
to convert a decimal number into its equivalent binary number…..using shell script:
created by APARNA……….
program
echo ” program to convert a decimal number into its equivalent binary number…….”
echo -e “enter a decimal number….”
read no
d=$no
echo “____________________________________________________________”
r=0
b=0
if test $d -eq 0
then
echo “Binary of 0 is 0…”
else
if test $d -eq 1
then
echo “Binary of 1 is 1…”
else
i=0
echo “d=$d”
while [ $d -ne 1 ]
do
r=`expr $d % 2`
d=`expr $d / 2`
echo ” r=$r”
echo “d=$d”
#add one by one element in an array………
a=( “${a[@]}” “$r” )
i=$i+1
done
a=( “${a[@]}” “$d” )
fi
fi
echo “___________________________________________________________”
len=${#a[*]}
echo “equivalent binary number of $no is…..”
j=-1
l=`expr $len – 1`
while [ $l -gt $j ]; do
printf “%2d” ${a[$l]}
let l–
done
printf “n”
echo ” GOOD BYE……….”
Ll said on July 28, 2010
did u create it.. wow….
Ayesha said on August 3, 2010
How can I insert elements in an array from another text file?? I want to read numbers from another text file and insert them in an array??
Bill Hernandez said on August 18, 2010
As I was digging through my notes I found this…
——————————————————
NOTES : Sample code for [ jot ] command…
——————————————————
# +———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+
RANDOM NUMBERS – print three random numbers between [1 - 500]
[2007.06.08](06:26AM) -> [bhernandez] ~
$ operation=-r ; reps=3 ; begin=1 ; end=500 ; jot $operation $reps $begin $end
15
438
164
# +———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+
SEQUENCE OF NUMBERS
jot 21 -1 1.00 # prints 21 evenly spaced numbers increasing from -1 to 1.
jot 20 5 # prints 20 evenly spaced numbers starting at 5
my_seq=`jot 20 1` # prints 20 evenly spaced numbers starting at 1
echo ${my_seq}
# +———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+
# ROUTINE FROM bh_dir_samples – Example using {sed, wc, jot, and a for loop}
# FOR MORE EXAMPLES SEE –> bh_dir_samples
# +———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+
echo
echo “( 19 ) BASH – Example using {sed, wc, jot, and a for loop}”
my_path=”/tmp/state/city/farm/barn/tractor/keys/red/small”
my_str=`echo “$my_path” | sed ’s/// /g’`
my_word_count=`echo $my_str | wc -w` ;
how_many_levels_back=2
max_count=`expr $my_word_count – $how_many_levels_back`
my_seq=`jot $max_count 1` # prints 20 evenly spaced numbers starting at 1
n=1
for arg in $my_str ;
do
if [ $n -gt 0 ]
then
if [ $n -le $max_count ]
then
# echo -n “$n/$arg”
# echo -n “/$arg”
my_result=”${my_result}/${arg}”
fi
fi
let “n++”
done
echo “( a ) –> $my_path = $my_path”
echo “( b ) –> $how_many_levels_back = $how_many_levels_back”
echo “( c ) –> $max_count = $max_count”
echo “( d ) –> $my_seq = `echo $my_seq`” # ( d ) This one shows up on one line
echo “( e ) –> $my_seq = ${my_seq}” # ( e ) This shows up on separate lines
echo “( f ) –> $my_seq = `echo $my_seq | sed ’s/n/ /g’`” # ( f ) This one shows up on one line
echo “( g ) –> $my_result = $my_result”
exit
# +———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+
# RESULTS
# +———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+
( 19 ) BASH – Example using {sed, wc, jot, and a for loop}
( a ) –> $my_path = /tmp/state/city/farm/barn/tractor/keys/red/small
( b ) –> $how_many_levels_back = 2
( c ) –> $max_count = 7
( d ) –> $my_seq = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
( e ) –> $my_seq = 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
( f ) –> $my_seq = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
( g ) –> $my_result = /tmp/state/city/farm/barn/tractor/keys
# +———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+
[2007.05.08](04:40PM) -> [bhernandez] ~
$
# +———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+———+
Varun Avashia said on September 14, 2010
#Initialize commands
init command
echo “Total packages found: ” $(rpm -qa | grep -c “some string”)
#Search for packages and remove them one by one
for package in $(rpm -qa | grep “some string”);
do
echo “Removing ” $package
rpm -fe $package
done
#Cleanup
Clean up commands
echo “Remaining packages: ” $(rpm -qa | grep -c “some string”)
Matt Duffy said on September 22, 2010
Hi, just found this site and it’s been really helpful so far. I have a problem with assigning the output of a find command into an array. The find command works fine on it’s own:
find “$path” ( -type d -o -type f ) -name ‘[.]*’ -print0
where $path is a string with a file system path. This finds all files or directories in a subtree with names that begin with a dot (.svn, .DS_Store, etc). Currently, the output is piped to xargs to delete the files it finds. It uses the -print0 to account for space characters in $path.
What I would like to do is have the output redirected into an array where each array element is a string path value for a file/directory with a dot name. The problem I am having is that there are many files the subtree that have spaces in their name and when the find command output is redirected to the array the space characters in the string cause it to be split into more than one array element.
For example, a string like:
web/Cappuccino/iTunes Layout/Frameworks/AppKit/Resources/.DS_Store
will be split at iTunesLayout to create array elements
array[n] = web/Cappuccino/iTunes
array[n+1] = Layout/Frameworks/AppKit/Resources/.DS_Store
I have tried a number of different syntaxes all with the same result. I feel like it’s just a simple error in my variable quoting or something, but I am stuck. I think it should look something like this (but this is wrong):
array=( `find “$path” ( -type f -or -type d ) -name ‘[.]*’ -print0 | xargs -0 -n 1` )
Any suggestions? I am really stuck on this.
Cheers
Bf Hayati said on July 1, 2011
thats great but can any one know how to use array in loop like ,or know how to change number from decimle into binary plzzzzzzzzzzzzz