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How to read the output of an array in Bash?
The spaces in the output break our solution. The output above tells us, the my_array now has ten elements, instead of five. The fix may come to mind immediately: set the IFS to a newline character, so that a whole line can be assigned to an array element.
How to assign a command to an array in Bash?
This resulted in a bunch of lines with line numbers in which the search term was found. What’s the easiest way to assign them to a bash array? If I simply assign them to a variable they become a space-separated string. To assign the output of a command to an array, you need to use a command substitution inside of an array assignment.
Do you save a command into an array in Bash?
When we write shell scripts, we often call a command and save the output into a variable for further processing. Sometimes, we want to save a multi-line output into a Bash array. In this tutorial, we’ll discuss some common pitfalls of doing this and address how to do it in the right way.
How to check the initialization of an array in Bash?
We use the Bash built-in declare with the -p option to examine the array. It shows that the array has been initialized as we expected. Well, so far, so good. However, this is not a stable solution. Let’s see what’s wrong with it. 2.1. Output May Contain Spaces The output of a command can often include spaces.
Is it possible to return an array in Bash?
Returning arrays is really not practical. There are lots of pitfalls. That said, here’s one technique that works if it’s OK that the variable have the same name: The declare -p commands (except for the one in f () are used to display the state of the array for demonstration purposes.
How to save the output of a command in Bash?
In this article, we’ve solved the problem: How to save the output of a command into a Bash array. The readarray command will be the most straightforward solution to that problem if we’re working with a Bash newer than Ver. 4. If we have to work with an older Bash, we can still solve the problem using the read command.
Which is the READ command in Bash shell?
The Bash shell has another built-in command: read, it reads a line of text from the standard input and splits it into words. We can solve the problem using the read command: Let’s test it and see if it will work on different cases: The output shows it works with our examples as well.