I want to write a script that loops through 15 strings (array possibly?) Is that possible?
Something like:
for databaseName in listOfNames
then
# Do something
end
You can use it like this:
## declare an array variable
declare -a arr=("element1" "element2" "element3")
## now loop through the above array
for i in "${arr[#]}"
do
echo "$i"
# or do whatever with individual element of the array
done
# You can access them using echo "${arr[0]}", "${arr[1]}" also
Also works for multi-line array declaration
declare -a arr=("element1"
"element2" "element3"
"element4"
)
That is possible, of course.
for databaseName in a b c d e f; do
# do something like: echo $databaseName
done
See Bash Loops for, while and until for details.
None of those answers include a counter...
#!/bin/bash
## declare an array variable
declare -a array=("one" "two" "three")
# get length of an array
arraylength=${#array[#]}
# use for loop to read all values and indexes
for (( i=0; i<${arraylength}; i++ ));
do
echo "index: $i, value: ${array[$i]}"
done
Output:
index: 0, value: one
index: 1, value: two
index: 2, value: three
Yes
for Item in Item1 Item2 Item3 Item4 ;
do
echo $Item
done
Output:
Item1
Item2
Item3
Item4
To preserve spaces; single or double quote list entries and double quote list expansions.
for Item in 'Item 1' 'Item 2' 'Item 3' 'Item 4' ;
do
echo "$Item"
done
Output:
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Item 4
To make list over multiple lines
for Item in Item1 \
Item2 \
Item3 \
Item4
do
echo $Item
done
Output:
Item1
Item2
Item3
Item4
Simple list variable
List=( Item1 Item2 Item3 )
or
List=(
Item1
Item2
Item3
)
Display the list variable:
echo ${List[*]}
Output:
Item1 Item2 Item3
Loop through the list:
for Item in ${List[*]}
do
echo $Item
done
Output:
Item1
Item2
Item3
Create a function to go through a list:
Loop(){
for item in ${*} ;
do
echo ${item}
done
}
Loop ${List[*]}
Using the declare keyword (command) to create the list, which is technically called an array:
declare -a List=(
"element 1"
"element 2"
"element 3"
)
for entry in "${List[#]}"
do
echo "$entry"
done
Output:
element 1
element 2
element 3
Creating an associative array. A dictionary:
declare -A continent
continent[Vietnam]=Asia
continent[France]=Europe
continent[Argentina]=America
for item in "${!continent[#]}";
do
printf "$item is in ${continent[$item]} \n"
done
Output:
Argentina is in America
Vietnam is in Asia
France is in Europe
CSV variables or files in to a list. Changing the internal field separator from a space, to what ever you want. In the example below it is changed to a comma
List="Item 1,Item 2,Item 3"
Backup_of_internal_field_separator=$IFS
IFS=,
for item in $List;
do
echo $item
done
IFS=$Backup_of_internal_field_separator
Output:
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
If need to number them:
`
this is called a back tick. Put the command inside back ticks.
`command`
It is next to the number one on your keyboard and or above the tab key, on a standard American English language keyboard.
List=()
Start_count=0
Step_count=0.1
Stop_count=1
for Item in `seq $Start_count $Step_count $Stop_count`
do
List+=(Item_$Item)
done
for Item in ${List[*]}
do
echo $Item
done
Output is:
Item_0.0
Item_0.1
Item_0.2
Item_0.3
Item_0.4
Item_0.5
Item_0.6
Item_0.7
Item_0.8
Item_0.9
Item_1.0
Becoming more familiar with bashes behavior:
Create a list in a file
cat <<EOF> List_entries.txt
Item1
Item 2
'Item 3'
"Item 4"
Item 7 : *
"Item 6 : * "
"Item 6 : *"
Item 8 : $PWD
'Item 8 : $PWD'
"Item 9 : $PWD"
EOF
Read the list file in to a list and display
List=$(cat List_entries.txt)
echo $List
echo '$List'
echo "$List"
echo ${List[*]}
echo '${List[*]}'
echo "${List[*]}"
echo ${List[#]}
echo '${List[#]}'
echo "${List[#]}"
BASH commandline reference manual: Special meaning of certain characters or words to the shell.
In the same spirit as 4ndrew's answer:
listOfNames="RA
RB
R C
RD"
# To allow for other whitespace in the string:
# 1. add double quotes around the list variable, or
# 2. see the IFS note (under 'Side Notes')
for databaseName in "$listOfNames" # <-- Note: Added "" quotes.
do
echo "$databaseName" # (i.e. do action / processing of $databaseName here...)
done
# Outputs
# RA
# RB
# R C
# RD
B. No whitespace in the names:
listOfNames="RA
RB
R C
RD"
for databaseName in $listOfNames # Note: No quotes
do
echo "$databaseName" # (i.e. do action / processing of $databaseName here...)
done
# Outputs
# RA
# RB
# R
# C
# RD
Notes
In the second example, using listOfNames="RA RB R C RD" has the same output.
Other ways to bring in data include:
stdin (listed below),
variables,
an array (the accepted answer),
a file...
Read from stdin
# line delimited (each databaseName is stored on a line)
while read databaseName
do
echo "$databaseName" # i.e. do action / processing of $databaseName here...
done # <<< or_another_input_method_here
the bash IFS "field separator to line" [1] delimiter can be specified in the script to allow other whitespace (i.e. IFS='\n', or for MacOS IFS='\r')
I like the accepted answer also :) -- I've include these snippets as other helpful ways that also answer the question.
Including #!/bin/bash at the top of the script file indicates the execution environment.
It took me months to figure out how to code this simply :)
Other Sources
(while read loop)
You can use the syntax of ${arrayName[#]}
#!/bin/bash
# declare an array called files, that contains 3 values
files=( "/etc/passwd" "/etc/group" "/etc/hosts" )
for i in "${files[#]}"
do
echo "$i"
done
Surprised that nobody's posted this yet -- if you need the indices of the elements while you're looping through the array, you can do this:
arr=(foo bar baz)
for i in ${!arr[#]}
do
echo $i "${arr[i]}"
done
Output:
0 foo
1 bar
2 baz
I find this a lot more elegant than the "traditional" for-loop style (for (( i=0; i<${#arr[#]}; i++ ))).
(${!arr[#]} and $i don't need to be quoted because they're just numbers; some would suggest quoting them anyway, but that's just personal preference.)
This is also easy to read:
FilePath=(
"/tmp/path1/" #FilePath[0]
"/tmp/path2/" #FilePath[1]
)
#Loop
for Path in "${FilePath[#]}"
do
echo "$Path"
done
I used this approach for my GitHub updates, and I found it simple.
## declare an array variable
arr_variable=("kofi" "kwame" "Ama")
## now loop through the above array
for i in "${arr_variable[#]}"
do
echo "$i"
done
You can iterate through bash array values using a counter with three-expression (C style) to read all values and indexes for loops syntax:
declare -a kofi=("kofi" "kwame" "Ama")
# get the length of the array
length=${#kofi[#]}
for (( j=0; j<${length}; j++ ));
do
print (f "Current index %d with value %s\n" $j "${kofi[$j]}")
done
Simple way :
arr=("sharlock" "bomkesh" "feluda" ) ##declare array
len=${#arr[*]} # it returns the array length
#iterate with while loop
i=0
while [ $i -lt $len ]
do
echo ${arr[$i]}
i=$((i+1))
done
#iterate with for loop
for i in $arr
do
echo $i
done
#iterate with splice
echo ${arr[#]:0:3}
listOfNames="db_one db_two db_three"
for databaseName in $listOfNames
do
echo $databaseName
done
or just
for databaseName in db_one db_two db_three
do
echo $databaseName
done
Implicit array for script or functions:
In addition to anubhava's correct answer: If basic syntax for loop is:
for var in "${arr[#]}" ;do ...$var... ;done
there is a special case in bash:
When running a script or a function, arguments passed at command lines will be assigned to $# array variable, you can access by $1, $2, $3, and so on.
This can be populated (for test) by
set -- arg1 arg2 arg3 ...
A loop over this array could be written simply:
for item ;do
echo "This is item: $item."
done
Note that the reserved work in is not present and no array name too!
Sample:
set -- arg1 arg2 arg3 ...
for item ;do
echo "This is item: $item."
done
This is item: arg1.
This is item: arg2.
This is item: arg3.
This is item: ....
Note that this is same than
for item in "$#";do
echo "This is item: $item."
done
Then into a script:
#!/bin/bash
for item ;do
printf "Doing something with '%s'.\n" "$item"
done
Save this in a script myscript.sh, chmod +x myscript.sh, then
./myscript.sh arg1 arg2 arg3 ...
Doing something with 'arg1'.
Doing something with 'arg2'.
Doing something with 'arg3'.
Doing something with '...'.
Same in a function:
myfunc() { for item;do cat <<<"Working about '$item'."; done ; }
Then
myfunc item1 tiem2 time3
Working about 'item1'.
Working about 'tiem2'.
Working about 'time3'.
The declare array doesn't work for Korn shell. Use the below example for the Korn shell:
promote_sla_chk_lst="cdi xlob"
set -A promote_arry $promote_sla_chk_lst
for i in ${promote_arry[*]};
do
echo $i
done
Try this. It is working and tested.
for k in "${array[#]}"
do
echo $k
done
# For accessing with the echo command: echo ${array[0]}, ${array[1]}
This is similar to user2533809's answer, but each file will be executed as a separate command.
#!/bin/bash
names="RA
RB
R C
RD"
while read -r line; do
echo line: "$line"
done <<< "$names"
If you are using Korn shell, there is "set -A databaseName ", else there is "declare -a databaseName"
To write a script working on all shells,
set -A databaseName=("db1" "db2" ....) ||
declare -a databaseName=("db1" "db2" ....)
# now loop
for dbname in "${arr[#]}"
do
echo "$dbname" # or whatever
done
It should be work on all shells.
What I really needed for this was something like this:
for i in $(the_array); do something; done
For instance:
for i in $(ps -aux | grep vlc | awk '{ print $2 }'); do kill -9 $i; done
(Would kill all processes with vlc in their name)
How you loop through an array, depends on the presence of new line characters. With new line characters separating the array elements, the array can be referred to as "$array", otherwise it should be referred to as "${array[#]}". The following script will make it clear:
#!/bin/bash
mkdir temp
mkdir temp/aaa
mkdir temp/bbb
mkdir temp/ccc
array=$(ls temp)
array1=(aaa bbb ccc)
array2=$(echo -e "aaa\nbbb\nccc")
echo '$array'
echo "$array"
echo
for dirname in "$array"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
echo
for dirname in "${array[#]}"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
echo
echo '$array1'
echo "$array1"
echo
for dirname in "$array1"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
echo
for dirname in "${array1[#]}"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
echo
echo '$array2'
echo "$array2"
echo
for dirname in "$array2"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
echo
for dirname in "${array2[#]}"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
rmdir temp/aaa
rmdir temp/bbb
rmdir temp/ccc
rmdir temp
Possible first line of every Bash script/session:
say() { for line in "${#}" ; do printf "%s\n" "${line}" ; done ; }
Use e.g.:
$ aa=( 7 -4 -e ) ; say "${aa[#]}"
7
-4
-e
May consider: echo interprets -e as option here
Single line looping,
declare -a listOfNames=('db_a' 'db_b' 'db_c')
for databaseName in ${listOfNames[#]}; do echo $databaseName; done;
you will get an output like this,
db_a
db_b
db_c
I loop through an array of my projects for a git pull update:
#!/bin/sh
projects="
web
ios
android
"
for project in $projects do
cd $HOME/develop/$project && git pull
end
Related
I want to write a script that loops through 15 strings (array possibly?) Is that possible?
Something like:
for databaseName in listOfNames
then
# Do something
end
You can use it like this:
## declare an array variable
declare -a arr=("element1" "element2" "element3")
## now loop through the above array
for i in "${arr[#]}"
do
echo "$i"
# or do whatever with individual element of the array
done
# You can access them using echo "${arr[0]}", "${arr[1]}" also
Also works for multi-line array declaration
declare -a arr=("element1"
"element2" "element3"
"element4"
)
That is possible, of course.
for databaseName in a b c d e f; do
# do something like: echo $databaseName
done
See Bash Loops for, while and until for details.
None of those answers include a counter...
#!/bin/bash
## declare an array variable
declare -a array=("one" "two" "three")
# get length of an array
arraylength=${#array[#]}
# use for loop to read all values and indexes
for (( i=0; i<${arraylength}; i++ ));
do
echo "index: $i, value: ${array[$i]}"
done
Output:
index: 0, value: one
index: 1, value: two
index: 2, value: three
Yes
for Item in Item1 Item2 Item3 Item4 ;
do
echo $Item
done
Output:
Item1
Item2
Item3
Item4
To preserve spaces; single or double quote list entries and double quote list expansions.
for Item in 'Item 1' 'Item 2' 'Item 3' 'Item 4' ;
do
echo "$Item"
done
Output:
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Item 4
To make list over multiple lines
for Item in Item1 \
Item2 \
Item3 \
Item4
do
echo $Item
done
Output:
Item1
Item2
Item3
Item4
Simple list variable
List=( Item1 Item2 Item3 )
or
List=(
Item1
Item2
Item3
)
Display the list variable:
echo ${List[*]}
Output:
Item1 Item2 Item3
Loop through the list:
for Item in ${List[*]}
do
echo $Item
done
Output:
Item1
Item2
Item3
Create a function to go through a list:
Loop(){
for item in ${*} ;
do
echo ${item}
done
}
Loop ${List[*]}
Using the declare keyword (command) to create the list, which is technically called an array:
declare -a List=(
"element 1"
"element 2"
"element 3"
)
for entry in "${List[#]}"
do
echo "$entry"
done
Output:
element 1
element 2
element 3
Creating an associative array. A dictionary:
declare -A continent
continent[Vietnam]=Asia
continent[France]=Europe
continent[Argentina]=America
for item in "${!continent[#]}";
do
printf "$item is in ${continent[$item]} \n"
done
Output:
Argentina is in America
Vietnam is in Asia
France is in Europe
CSV variables or files in to a list. Changing the internal field separator from a space, to what ever you want. In the example below it is changed to a comma
List="Item 1,Item 2,Item 3"
Backup_of_internal_field_separator=$IFS
IFS=,
for item in $List;
do
echo $item
done
IFS=$Backup_of_internal_field_separator
Output:
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
If need to number them:
`
this is called a back tick. Put the command inside back ticks.
`command`
It is next to the number one on your keyboard and or above the tab key, on a standard American English language keyboard.
List=()
Start_count=0
Step_count=0.1
Stop_count=1
for Item in `seq $Start_count $Step_count $Stop_count`
do
List+=(Item_$Item)
done
for Item in ${List[*]}
do
echo $Item
done
Output is:
Item_0.0
Item_0.1
Item_0.2
Item_0.3
Item_0.4
Item_0.5
Item_0.6
Item_0.7
Item_0.8
Item_0.9
Item_1.0
Becoming more familiar with bashes behavior:
Create a list in a file
cat <<EOF> List_entries.txt
Item1
Item 2
'Item 3'
"Item 4"
Item 7 : *
"Item 6 : * "
"Item 6 : *"
Item 8 : $PWD
'Item 8 : $PWD'
"Item 9 : $PWD"
EOF
Read the list file in to a list and display
List=$(cat List_entries.txt)
echo $List
echo '$List'
echo "$List"
echo ${List[*]}
echo '${List[*]}'
echo "${List[*]}"
echo ${List[#]}
echo '${List[#]}'
echo "${List[#]}"
BASH commandline reference manual: Special meaning of certain characters or words to the shell.
In the same spirit as 4ndrew's answer:
listOfNames="RA
RB
R C
RD"
# To allow for other whitespace in the string:
# 1. add double quotes around the list variable, or
# 2. see the IFS note (under 'Side Notes')
for databaseName in "$listOfNames" # <-- Note: Added "" quotes.
do
echo "$databaseName" # (i.e. do action / processing of $databaseName here...)
done
# Outputs
# RA
# RB
# R C
# RD
B. No whitespace in the names:
listOfNames="RA
RB
R C
RD"
for databaseName in $listOfNames # Note: No quotes
do
echo "$databaseName" # (i.e. do action / processing of $databaseName here...)
done
# Outputs
# RA
# RB
# R
# C
# RD
Notes
In the second example, using listOfNames="RA RB R C RD" has the same output.
Other ways to bring in data include:
stdin (listed below),
variables,
an array (the accepted answer),
a file...
Read from stdin
# line delimited (each databaseName is stored on a line)
while read databaseName
do
echo "$databaseName" # i.e. do action / processing of $databaseName here...
done # <<< or_another_input_method_here
the bash IFS "field separator to line" [1] delimiter can be specified in the script to allow other whitespace (i.e. IFS='\n', or for MacOS IFS='\r')
I like the accepted answer also :) -- I've include these snippets as other helpful ways that also answer the question.
Including #!/bin/bash at the top of the script file indicates the execution environment.
It took me months to figure out how to code this simply :)
Other Sources
(while read loop)
You can use the syntax of ${arrayName[#]}
#!/bin/bash
# declare an array called files, that contains 3 values
files=( "/etc/passwd" "/etc/group" "/etc/hosts" )
for i in "${files[#]}"
do
echo "$i"
done
Surprised that nobody's posted this yet -- if you need the indices of the elements while you're looping through the array, you can do this:
arr=(foo bar baz)
for i in ${!arr[#]}
do
echo $i "${arr[i]}"
done
Output:
0 foo
1 bar
2 baz
I find this a lot more elegant than the "traditional" for-loop style (for (( i=0; i<${#arr[#]}; i++ ))).
(${!arr[#]} and $i don't need to be quoted because they're just numbers; some would suggest quoting them anyway, but that's just personal preference.)
This is also easy to read:
FilePath=(
"/tmp/path1/" #FilePath[0]
"/tmp/path2/" #FilePath[1]
)
#Loop
for Path in "${FilePath[#]}"
do
echo "$Path"
done
I used this approach for my GitHub updates, and I found it simple.
## declare an array variable
arr_variable=("kofi" "kwame" "Ama")
## now loop through the above array
for i in "${arr_variable[#]}"
do
echo "$i"
done
You can iterate through bash array values using a counter with three-expression (C style) to read all values and indexes for loops syntax:
declare -a kofi=("kofi" "kwame" "Ama")
# get the length of the array
length=${#kofi[#]}
for (( j=0; j<${length}; j++ ));
do
print (f "Current index %d with value %s\n" $j "${kofi[$j]}")
done
Simple way :
arr=("sharlock" "bomkesh" "feluda" ) ##declare array
len=${#arr[*]} # it returns the array length
#iterate with while loop
i=0
while [ $i -lt $len ]
do
echo ${arr[$i]}
i=$((i+1))
done
#iterate with for loop
for i in $arr
do
echo $i
done
#iterate with splice
echo ${arr[#]:0:3}
listOfNames="db_one db_two db_three"
for databaseName in $listOfNames
do
echo $databaseName
done
or just
for databaseName in db_one db_two db_three
do
echo $databaseName
done
Implicit array for script or functions:
In addition to anubhava's correct answer: If basic syntax for loop is:
for var in "${arr[#]}" ;do ...$var... ;done
there is a special case in bash:
When running a script or a function, arguments passed at command lines will be assigned to $# array variable, you can access by $1, $2, $3, and so on.
This can be populated (for test) by
set -- arg1 arg2 arg3 ...
A loop over this array could be written simply:
for item ;do
echo "This is item: $item."
done
Note that the reserved work in is not present and no array name too!
Sample:
set -- arg1 arg2 arg3 ...
for item ;do
echo "This is item: $item."
done
This is item: arg1.
This is item: arg2.
This is item: arg3.
This is item: ....
Note that this is same than
for item in "$#";do
echo "This is item: $item."
done
Then into a script:
#!/bin/bash
for item ;do
printf "Doing something with '%s'.\n" "$item"
done
Save this in a script myscript.sh, chmod +x myscript.sh, then
./myscript.sh arg1 arg2 arg3 ...
Doing something with 'arg1'.
Doing something with 'arg2'.
Doing something with 'arg3'.
Doing something with '...'.
Same in a function:
myfunc() { for item;do cat <<<"Working about '$item'."; done ; }
Then
myfunc item1 tiem2 time3
Working about 'item1'.
Working about 'tiem2'.
Working about 'time3'.
The declare array doesn't work for Korn shell. Use the below example for the Korn shell:
promote_sla_chk_lst="cdi xlob"
set -A promote_arry $promote_sla_chk_lst
for i in ${promote_arry[*]};
do
echo $i
done
Try this. It is working and tested.
for k in "${array[#]}"
do
echo $k
done
# For accessing with the echo command: echo ${array[0]}, ${array[1]}
This is similar to user2533809's answer, but each file will be executed as a separate command.
#!/bin/bash
names="RA
RB
R C
RD"
while read -r line; do
echo line: "$line"
done <<< "$names"
If you are using Korn shell, there is "set -A databaseName ", else there is "declare -a databaseName"
To write a script working on all shells,
set -A databaseName=("db1" "db2" ....) ||
declare -a databaseName=("db1" "db2" ....)
# now loop
for dbname in "${arr[#]}"
do
echo "$dbname" # or whatever
done
It should be work on all shells.
What I really needed for this was something like this:
for i in $(the_array); do something; done
For instance:
for i in $(ps -aux | grep vlc | awk '{ print $2 }'); do kill -9 $i; done
(Would kill all processes with vlc in their name)
How you loop through an array, depends on the presence of new line characters. With new line characters separating the array elements, the array can be referred to as "$array", otherwise it should be referred to as "${array[#]}". The following script will make it clear:
#!/bin/bash
mkdir temp
mkdir temp/aaa
mkdir temp/bbb
mkdir temp/ccc
array=$(ls temp)
array1=(aaa bbb ccc)
array2=$(echo -e "aaa\nbbb\nccc")
echo '$array'
echo "$array"
echo
for dirname in "$array"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
echo
for dirname in "${array[#]}"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
echo
echo '$array1'
echo "$array1"
echo
for dirname in "$array1"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
echo
for dirname in "${array1[#]}"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
echo
echo '$array2'
echo "$array2"
echo
for dirname in "$array2"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
echo
for dirname in "${array2[#]}"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
rmdir temp/aaa
rmdir temp/bbb
rmdir temp/ccc
rmdir temp
Possible first line of every Bash script/session:
say() { for line in "${#}" ; do printf "%s\n" "${line}" ; done ; }
Use e.g.:
$ aa=( 7 -4 -e ) ; say "${aa[#]}"
7
-4
-e
May consider: echo interprets -e as option here
Single line looping,
declare -a listOfNames=('db_a' 'db_b' 'db_c')
for databaseName in ${listOfNames[#]}; do echo $databaseName; done;
you will get an output like this,
db_a
db_b
db_c
I loop through an array of my projects for a git pull update:
#!/bin/sh
projects="
web
ios
android
"
for project in $projects do
cd $HOME/develop/$project && git pull
end
I want to write a script that loops through 15 strings (array possibly?) Is that possible?
Something like:
for databaseName in listOfNames
then
# Do something
end
You can use it like this:
## declare an array variable
declare -a arr=("element1" "element2" "element3")
## now loop through the above array
for i in "${arr[#]}"
do
echo "$i"
# or do whatever with individual element of the array
done
# You can access them using echo "${arr[0]}", "${arr[1]}" also
Also works for multi-line array declaration
declare -a arr=("element1"
"element2" "element3"
"element4"
)
That is possible, of course.
for databaseName in a b c d e f; do
# do something like: echo $databaseName
done
See Bash Loops for, while and until for details.
None of those answers include a counter...
#!/bin/bash
## declare an array variable
declare -a array=("one" "two" "three")
# get length of an array
arraylength=${#array[#]}
# use for loop to read all values and indexes
for (( i=0; i<${arraylength}; i++ ));
do
echo "index: $i, value: ${array[$i]}"
done
Output:
index: 0, value: one
index: 1, value: two
index: 2, value: three
Yes
for Item in Item1 Item2 Item3 Item4 ;
do
echo $Item
done
Output:
Item1
Item2
Item3
Item4
To preserve spaces; single or double quote list entries and double quote list expansions.
for Item in 'Item 1' 'Item 2' 'Item 3' 'Item 4' ;
do
echo "$Item"
done
Output:
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Item 4
To make list over multiple lines
for Item in Item1 \
Item2 \
Item3 \
Item4
do
echo $Item
done
Output:
Item1
Item2
Item3
Item4
Simple list variable
List=( Item1 Item2 Item3 )
or
List=(
Item1
Item2
Item3
)
Display the list variable:
echo ${List[*]}
Output:
Item1 Item2 Item3
Loop through the list:
for Item in ${List[*]}
do
echo $Item
done
Output:
Item1
Item2
Item3
Create a function to go through a list:
Loop(){
for item in ${*} ;
do
echo ${item}
done
}
Loop ${List[*]}
Using the declare keyword (command) to create the list, which is technically called an array:
declare -a List=(
"element 1"
"element 2"
"element 3"
)
for entry in "${List[#]}"
do
echo "$entry"
done
Output:
element 1
element 2
element 3
Creating an associative array. A dictionary:
declare -A continent
continent[Vietnam]=Asia
continent[France]=Europe
continent[Argentina]=America
for item in "${!continent[#]}";
do
printf "$item is in ${continent[$item]} \n"
done
Output:
Argentina is in America
Vietnam is in Asia
France is in Europe
CSV variables or files in to a list. Changing the internal field separator from a space, to what ever you want. In the example below it is changed to a comma
List="Item 1,Item 2,Item 3"
Backup_of_internal_field_separator=$IFS
IFS=,
for item in $List;
do
echo $item
done
IFS=$Backup_of_internal_field_separator
Output:
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
If need to number them:
`
this is called a back tick. Put the command inside back ticks.
`command`
It is next to the number one on your keyboard and or above the tab key, on a standard American English language keyboard.
List=()
Start_count=0
Step_count=0.1
Stop_count=1
for Item in `seq $Start_count $Step_count $Stop_count`
do
List+=(Item_$Item)
done
for Item in ${List[*]}
do
echo $Item
done
Output is:
Item_0.0
Item_0.1
Item_0.2
Item_0.3
Item_0.4
Item_0.5
Item_0.6
Item_0.7
Item_0.8
Item_0.9
Item_1.0
Becoming more familiar with bashes behavior:
Create a list in a file
cat <<EOF> List_entries.txt
Item1
Item 2
'Item 3'
"Item 4"
Item 7 : *
"Item 6 : * "
"Item 6 : *"
Item 8 : $PWD
'Item 8 : $PWD'
"Item 9 : $PWD"
EOF
Read the list file in to a list and display
List=$(cat List_entries.txt)
echo $List
echo '$List'
echo "$List"
echo ${List[*]}
echo '${List[*]}'
echo "${List[*]}"
echo ${List[#]}
echo '${List[#]}'
echo "${List[#]}"
BASH commandline reference manual: Special meaning of certain characters or words to the shell.
In the same spirit as 4ndrew's answer:
listOfNames="RA
RB
R C
RD"
# To allow for other whitespace in the string:
# 1. add double quotes around the list variable, or
# 2. see the IFS note (under 'Side Notes')
for databaseName in "$listOfNames" # <-- Note: Added "" quotes.
do
echo "$databaseName" # (i.e. do action / processing of $databaseName here...)
done
# Outputs
# RA
# RB
# R C
# RD
B. No whitespace in the names:
listOfNames="RA
RB
R C
RD"
for databaseName in $listOfNames # Note: No quotes
do
echo "$databaseName" # (i.e. do action / processing of $databaseName here...)
done
# Outputs
# RA
# RB
# R
# C
# RD
Notes
In the second example, using listOfNames="RA RB R C RD" has the same output.
Other ways to bring in data include:
stdin (listed below),
variables,
an array (the accepted answer),
a file...
Read from stdin
# line delimited (each databaseName is stored on a line)
while read databaseName
do
echo "$databaseName" # i.e. do action / processing of $databaseName here...
done # <<< or_another_input_method_here
the bash IFS "field separator to line" [1] delimiter can be specified in the script to allow other whitespace (i.e. IFS='\n', or for MacOS IFS='\r')
I like the accepted answer also :) -- I've include these snippets as other helpful ways that also answer the question.
Including #!/bin/bash at the top of the script file indicates the execution environment.
It took me months to figure out how to code this simply :)
Other Sources
(while read loop)
You can use the syntax of ${arrayName[#]}
#!/bin/bash
# declare an array called files, that contains 3 values
files=( "/etc/passwd" "/etc/group" "/etc/hosts" )
for i in "${files[#]}"
do
echo "$i"
done
Surprised that nobody's posted this yet -- if you need the indices of the elements while you're looping through the array, you can do this:
arr=(foo bar baz)
for i in ${!arr[#]}
do
echo $i "${arr[i]}"
done
Output:
0 foo
1 bar
2 baz
I find this a lot more elegant than the "traditional" for-loop style (for (( i=0; i<${#arr[#]}; i++ ))).
(${!arr[#]} and $i don't need to be quoted because they're just numbers; some would suggest quoting them anyway, but that's just personal preference.)
This is also easy to read:
FilePath=(
"/tmp/path1/" #FilePath[0]
"/tmp/path2/" #FilePath[1]
)
#Loop
for Path in "${FilePath[#]}"
do
echo "$Path"
done
I used this approach for my GitHub updates, and I found it simple.
## declare an array variable
arr_variable=("kofi" "kwame" "Ama")
## now loop through the above array
for i in "${arr_variable[#]}"
do
echo "$i"
done
You can iterate through bash array values using a counter with three-expression (C style) to read all values and indexes for loops syntax:
declare -a kofi=("kofi" "kwame" "Ama")
# get the length of the array
length=${#kofi[#]}
for (( j=0; j<${length}; j++ ));
do
print (f "Current index %d with value %s\n" $j "${kofi[$j]}")
done
Simple way :
arr=("sharlock" "bomkesh" "feluda" ) ##declare array
len=${#arr[*]} # it returns the array length
#iterate with while loop
i=0
while [ $i -lt $len ]
do
echo ${arr[$i]}
i=$((i+1))
done
#iterate with for loop
for i in $arr
do
echo $i
done
#iterate with splice
echo ${arr[#]:0:3}
listOfNames="db_one db_two db_three"
for databaseName in $listOfNames
do
echo $databaseName
done
or just
for databaseName in db_one db_two db_three
do
echo $databaseName
done
Implicit array for script or functions:
In addition to anubhava's correct answer: If basic syntax for loop is:
for var in "${arr[#]}" ;do ...$var... ;done
there is a special case in bash:
When running a script or a function, arguments passed at command lines will be assigned to $# array variable, you can access by $1, $2, $3, and so on.
This can be populated (for test) by
set -- arg1 arg2 arg3 ...
A loop over this array could be written simply:
for item ;do
echo "This is item: $item."
done
Note that the reserved work in is not present and no array name too!
Sample:
set -- arg1 arg2 arg3 ...
for item ;do
echo "This is item: $item."
done
This is item: arg1.
This is item: arg2.
This is item: arg3.
This is item: ....
Note that this is same than
for item in "$#";do
echo "This is item: $item."
done
Then into a script:
#!/bin/bash
for item ;do
printf "Doing something with '%s'.\n" "$item"
done
Save this in a script myscript.sh, chmod +x myscript.sh, then
./myscript.sh arg1 arg2 arg3 ...
Doing something with 'arg1'.
Doing something with 'arg2'.
Doing something with 'arg3'.
Doing something with '...'.
Same in a function:
myfunc() { for item;do cat <<<"Working about '$item'."; done ; }
Then
myfunc item1 tiem2 time3
Working about 'item1'.
Working about 'tiem2'.
Working about 'time3'.
The declare array doesn't work for Korn shell. Use the below example for the Korn shell:
promote_sla_chk_lst="cdi xlob"
set -A promote_arry $promote_sla_chk_lst
for i in ${promote_arry[*]};
do
echo $i
done
Try this. It is working and tested.
for k in "${array[#]}"
do
echo $k
done
# For accessing with the echo command: echo ${array[0]}, ${array[1]}
This is similar to user2533809's answer, but each file will be executed as a separate command.
#!/bin/bash
names="RA
RB
R C
RD"
while read -r line; do
echo line: "$line"
done <<< "$names"
If you are using Korn shell, there is "set -A databaseName ", else there is "declare -a databaseName"
To write a script working on all shells,
set -A databaseName=("db1" "db2" ....) ||
declare -a databaseName=("db1" "db2" ....)
# now loop
for dbname in "${arr[#]}"
do
echo "$dbname" # or whatever
done
It should be work on all shells.
What I really needed for this was something like this:
for i in $(the_array); do something; done
For instance:
for i in $(ps -aux | grep vlc | awk '{ print $2 }'); do kill -9 $i; done
(Would kill all processes with vlc in their name)
How you loop through an array, depends on the presence of new line characters. With new line characters separating the array elements, the array can be referred to as "$array", otherwise it should be referred to as "${array[#]}". The following script will make it clear:
#!/bin/bash
mkdir temp
mkdir temp/aaa
mkdir temp/bbb
mkdir temp/ccc
array=$(ls temp)
array1=(aaa bbb ccc)
array2=$(echo -e "aaa\nbbb\nccc")
echo '$array'
echo "$array"
echo
for dirname in "$array"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
echo
for dirname in "${array[#]}"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
echo
echo '$array1'
echo "$array1"
echo
for dirname in "$array1"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
echo
for dirname in "${array1[#]}"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
echo
echo '$array2'
echo "$array2"
echo
for dirname in "$array2"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
echo
for dirname in "${array2[#]}"; do
echo "$dirname"
done
rmdir temp/aaa
rmdir temp/bbb
rmdir temp/ccc
rmdir temp
Possible first line of every Bash script/session:
say() { for line in "${#}" ; do printf "%s\n" "${line}" ; done ; }
Use e.g.:
$ aa=( 7 -4 -e ) ; say "${aa[#]}"
7
-4
-e
May consider: echo interprets -e as option here
Single line looping,
declare -a listOfNames=('db_a' 'db_b' 'db_c')
for databaseName in ${listOfNames[#]}; do echo $databaseName; done;
you will get an output like this,
db_a
db_b
db_c
I loop through an array of my projects for a git pull update:
#!/bin/sh
projects="
web
ios
android
"
for project in $projects do
cd $HOME/develop/$project && git pull
end
in bash,now i have two strings,one is 'a b c' while another is '1 2 3'
any good way to combine them to 'a=1 b=2 c=3'
I tried string to array and combined them.but if i don't know the IFS?
IFS=' ' read -r -a array1 <<< "$upvote_count"
IFS=' ' read -r -a array0 <<< "$qids"
tLen=${#array[#]}
for (( i=0; i<${tLen}; i++ ));
do
echo "${array0[$i]}"" ""${array1[$i]}">>a.txt
done
You can create arrays from each string[1] and then use eval to create the variables with names from string 1 and values from string 2 by looping over each array element and evaluating array1[i]=array2[i] (pseudocode). A short script would look like the following:
#!/bin/bash
v1="a b c" ## original string variables
v2="1 2 3"
ar1=( $(echo $v1) ) ## create arrays 1 & 2 from strings
ar2=( $(echo $v2) )
for ((i=0; i<${#ar1[#]}; i++)); do
eval "${ar1[i]}=${ar2[i]}" ## eval to create variables
done ## (be careful with eval)
printf "a=%s\nb=%s\nc=%s\n" $a $b $c ## confirm
Output
$ bash evalabc.sh
a=1
b=2
c=3
You would want to add validations that the you have the same number of elements in each array, that the elements of the first don't begin with numbers, etc.. and that they do not contain anything that would be harmful when you run eval!
As noted in the comment of the script, take great care in using eval (or avoid it altogether) because it will do exactly what you tell it to do. You would not want to have, e.g. a=sudo rm, b="-rf", c=/* and then eval "$a $b $c" -- very bad things can happen.
Footnotes:
[1] (adjust IFS as needed - not needed for space separation)
Give this tested version a try:
unset letters; unset figures; IFS=' ' read -r -a letters <<< "a b c" ; \
IFS=' ' read -r -a figures <<< '1 2 3' ; \
for i in "${!letters[#]}" ; do \
printf "%s=%s\n" ${letters[i]} ${figures[i]}; \
done
a=1
b=2
c=3
A general method that works in any Bourne shell, (not just bash): Use a for loop for one list (a b c), match it up with piped input for the second list (1 2 3), produce a string of shell code, and eval that.
eval $(seq 3 | for f in a b c ; do read x ; echo $f=$x ; done) ;
echo $a $b $c
which prints:
1 2 3
eval is needed because variables assigned in a loop are forgotten once the loop is over.
Caution: never let eval execute unknown code. If either list contained unwanted shell code delimiters or commands, further parsing would be necessary, i.e. a prophylactic pipe after '; done'.
Applied to the specific example in the starting question, with two strings, containing space separated lists, we get:
qids="a b c" # our variable names
unset $qids # clear them if need be
upvote_count="1 2 3" # the values to be assigned
# generate code to assign the names list to the values list,
# via a 'for' loop, the index $var_name is for the $qids,
# and assign $var_name to each $upvote_count value which we pipe in.
# Since an assignment can't leave the loop, we 'echo'
# the code for assignment, and 'eval' that code after the loop
# is done.
eval $(
echo "${upvote_count}" |
tr ' ' '\n' |
for var_name in $qids ; do
read value
echo "$var_name=$value"
done
)
# The loop is done, so test if the code worked:
for var_name in $qids
do
echo -n $var_name=
eval echo \$$var_name
done
...which outputs:
a=1
b=2
c=3
In my script I need to expand an interval, e.g.:
input: 1,5-7
to get something like the following:
output: 1,5,6,7
I've found other solutions here, but they involve python and I can't use it in my script.
Solution with Just Bash 4 Builtins
You can use Bash range expansions. For example, assuming you've already parsed your input you can perform a series of successive operations to transform your range into a comma-separated series. For example:
value1=1
value2='5-7'
value2=${value2/-/..}
value2=`eval echo {$value2}`
echo "input: $value1,${value2// /,}"
All the usual caveats about the dangers of eval apply, and you'd definitely be better off solving this problem in Perl, Ruby, Python, or AWK. If you can't or won't, then you should at least consider including some pipeline tools like tr or sed in your conversions to avoid the need for eval.
Try something like this:
#!/bin/bash
for f in ${1//,/ }; do
if [[ $f =~ - ]]; then
a+=( $(seq ${f%-*} 1 ${f#*-}) )
else
a+=( $f )
fi
done
a=${a[*]}
a=${a// /,}
echo $a
Edit: As #Maxim_united mentioned in the comments, appending might be preferable to re-creating the array over and over again.
This should work with multiple ranges too.
#! /bin/bash
input="1,5-7,13-18,22"
result_str=""
for num in $(tr ',' ' ' <<< "$input"); do
if [[ "$num" == *-* ]]; then
res=$(seq -s ',' $(sed -n 's#\([0-9]\+\)-\([0-9]\+\).*#\1 \2#p' <<< "$num"))
else
res="$num"
fi
result_str="$result_str,$res"
done
echo ${result_str:1}
Will produce the following output:
1,5,6,7,13,14,15,16,17,18,22
expand_commas()
{
local arg
local st en i
set -- ${1//,/ }
for arg
do
case $arg in
[0-9]*-[0-9]*)
st=${arg%-*}
en=${arg#*-}
for ((i = st; i <= en; i++))
do
echo $i
done
;;
*)
echo $arg
;;
esac
done
}
Usage:
result=$(expand_commas arg)
eg:
result=$(expand_commas 1,5-7,9-12,3)
echo $result
You'll have to turn the separated words back into commas, of course.
It's a bit fragile with bad inputs but it's entirely in bash.
Here's my stab at it:
input=1,5-7,10,17-20
IFS=, read -a chunks <<< "$input"
output=()
for chunk in "${chunks[#]}"
do
IFS=- read -a args <<< "$chunk"
if (( ${#args[#]} == 1 )) # single number
then
output+=(${args[*]})
else # range
output+=($(seq "${args[#]}"))
fi
done
joined=$(sed -e 's/ /,/g' <<< "${output[*]}")
echo $joined
Basically split on commas, then interpret each piece. Then join back together with commas at the end.
A generic bash solution using the sequence expression `{x..y}'
#!/bin/bash
function doIt() {
local inp="${#/,/ }"
declare -a args=( $(echo ${inp/-/..}) )
local item
local sep
for item in "${args[#]}"
do
case ${item} in
*..*) eval "for i in {${item}} ; do echo -n \${sep}\${i}; sep=, ; done";;
*) echo -n ${sep}${item};;
esac
sep=,
done
}
doIt "1,5-7"
Should work with any input following the sample in the question. Also with multiple occurrences of x-y
Use only bash builtins
Using ideas from both #Ansgar Wiechers and #CodeGnome:
input="1,5-7,13-18,22"
for s in ${input//,/ }
do
if [[ $f =~ - ]]
then
a+=( $(eval echo {${s//-/..}}) )
else
a+=( $s )
fi
done
oldIFS=$IFS; IFS=$','; echo "${a[*]}"; IFS=$oldIFS
Works in Bash 3
Considering all the other answers, I came up with this solution, which does not use any sub-shells (but one call to eval for brace expansion) or separate processes:
# range list is assumed to be in $1 (e.g. 1-3,5,9-13)
# convert $1 to an array of ranges ("1-3" "5" "9-13")
IFS=,
local range=($1)
unset IFS
list=() # initialize result list
local r
for r in "${range[#]}"; do
if [[ $r == *-* ]]; then
# if the range is of the form "x-y",
# * convert to a brace expression "{x..y}",
# * using eval, this gets expanded to "x" "x+1" … "y" and
# * append this to the list array
eval list+=( {${r/-/..}} )
else
# otherwise, it is a simple number and can be appended to the array
list+=($r)
fi
done
# test output
echo ${list[#]}
Is it possible to load new lines from a text file to variables in bash?
Text file looks like?
EXAMPLEfoo
EXAMPLEbar
EXAMPLE1
EXAMPLE2
EXAMPLE3
EXAMPLE4
Variables become
$1 = EXAMPLEfoo
$2 = EXAMPLEbar
ans so on?
$ s=$(<file)
$ set -- $s
$ echo $1
EXAMPLEfoo
$ echo $2
EXAMPLEbar
$ echo $#
EXAMPLEfoo EXAMPLEbar EXAMPLE1 EXAMPLE2 EXAMPLE3 EXAMPLE4
I would improve the above by getting rid of temporary variable s:
$ set -- $(<file)
And if you have as input a file like this
variable1 = value
variable2 = value
You can use following construct to get named variables.
input=`cat filename|grep -v "^#"|grep "\c"`
set -- $input
while [ $1 ]
do
eval $1=$3
shift 3
done
cat somefile.txt| xargs bash_command.sh
bash_command.sh will receive these lines as arguments
saveIFS="$IFS"
IFS=$'\n'
array=($(<file))
IFS="$saveIFS"
echo ${array[0]} # output: EXAMPLEfoo
echo ${array[1]} # output: EXAMPLEbar
for i in "${array[#]}"; do echo "$i"; done # iterate over the array
Edit:
The loop in your pastebin has a few problems. Here it is as you've posted it:
for i in "${array[#]}"; do echo " "AD"$count = "$i""; $((count=count+1)); done
Here it is as it should be:
for i in "${array[#]}"; do declare AD$count="$i"; ((count=count+1)); done
or
for i in "${array[#]}"; do declare AD$count="$i"; ((count++)); done
But why not use the array directly? You could call it AD instead of array and instead of accessing a variable called "AD4" you'd access an array element "${AD[4]}".
echo "${AD[4]}"
if [[ ${AD[9]} == "EXAMPLE value" ]]; then do_something; fi
This can be done be with an array if you don't require these variables as inputs to a script. push() function lifted from the Advanced Scripting Guide
push() # Push item on stack.
{
if [ -z "$1" ] # Nothing to push?
then
return
fi
let "SP += 1" # Bump stack pointer.
stack[$SP]=$1
return
}
The contents of /tmp/test
[root#x~]# cat /tmp/test
EXAMPLEfoo
EXAMPLEbar
EXAMPLE1
EXAMPLE2
EXAMPLE3
EXAMPLE4
SP=0; for i in `cat /tmp/test`; do push $i ; done
Then
[root#x~]# echo ${stack[3]}
EXAMPLE1
None of the above will work, if your values are quoted with spaces.
However, not everythinf is lost.
Try this:
eval "$(VBoxManage showvminfo "$VMname" --details --machinereadable | egrep "^(name|UUID|CfgFile|VMState)")"
echo "$name {$UUID} $VMState ($VMStateChangeTime) CfgFile=$CfgFile"
P.S.
Nothing will ever work, if your names are quoted or contain dashes.
If you have something like that, as is the case with VBoxManage output ("IDE-1-0"="emptydrive" and so on), either egrep only specific values, as shown in my example, or silence the errors.
However, silencing erors is always dangerous. You never know, when the next value will have unquoted "*" in it, thus you must treat values loaded this way very careful, with all due precaution.