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
This question already has answers here:
Dynamic variable names in Bash
(19 answers)
Closed 1 year ago.
I have a set of variables whose values I need to modify in a loop, if a match is found in an array which I am reading later. The array elements are substrings of the variable names, so I thought of writing a generic for loop, which would modify the variable values on the fly, attempting string substitution in the variable names, but that doesn't work.
Here is the code:
CUT_APPLE=false
CUT_GUAVA=false
CUT_MANGO=false
AVAILABLE_FRUITS=("APPLE" "GUAVA")
for i in "${AVAILABLE_FRUITS[#]}"; do
CUT_$i=true
done
**CUT_APPLE=true: command not found**
**CUT_GUAVA=true: command not found**
Is there any way using which I can get interpolation in variable name declaration to work?
If your Bash version is greater than 4, it supports associative arrays which make it easy to check whether a boolean key exists:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Associative array to store keys of available fruits
declare -A cut_fruit=()
declare -a available_fruits=('APPLE' 'GUAVA' 'RED BANANA')
for fruit in "${available_fruits[#]}"; do
# Create key for fruit in Associative array if available
# shellcheck disable=SC2034 # cut_fruit is indeed used
cut_fruit[$fruit]=
done
# Check if cut fruit is available by checking key existence
for fruit in 'APPLE' 'BANANA' 'RED BANANA' 'MANGO'; do
if [[ -v cut_fruit[$fruit] ]]; then
printf 'Cut %s is available.\n' "$fruit"
else
printf 'There is no cut %s.\n' "$fruit"
fi
done
Sample output:
Cut APPLE is available.
There is no cut BANANA.
Cut RED BANANA is available.
There is no cut MANGO.
Here is a little game to play with associative arrays keys and boolean checks:
#!/usr/bin/env bash
print_basket() {
# Print remaining keys (content of basket)
for fruit in "${!basket[#]}"; do
printf '%d %s\n' "${basket[$fruit]}" "${fruit,,}"
done
}
cat <<'EOF'
--:{# Guess the fruits in my basket #}:--
EOF
declare -a all_fruits=(
'apple' 'banana' 'cherry' 'lemon' 'mango'
'orange' 'peach' 'plum' 'red banana' 'sweat chestnut')
# Number of fruits in the basked
selection_size=3
declare -a fruits_selection
mapfile -t fruits_selection < <(
# Shuffle a selection of fruits
printf '%s\n' "${all_fruits[#]}" | shuf -n "$selection_size"
)
declare -A basket
# Set selected fruits into basked
for fruit in "${fruits_selection[#]}"; do
# Uppercase the key for case insensitive match later
basket[${fruit^^}]=$((RANDOM % 9 + 1))
done
# Cheating
declare -p basket
max_tries=3
tries_left=$max_tries
guessed=0
while [ $guessed -lt $selection_size ] && [ $tries_left -gt 0 ]; do
printf 'Enter the name of a fruit: '
read -r fruit
# Uppercase fruit for case insensitive match
fruit="${fruit^^}"
if [[ -v basket[$fruit] ]]; then
printf 'Yes, there is %d %s in my basket!\n' \
"${basket[$fruit]}" "${fruit,,}"
guessed=$((guessed + 1))
# Remove fruit from basket
unset "basket[$fruit]"
else
tries_left=$((tries_left - 1))
printf 'No, there is no %s in my basket!\nTries left: %d\n' \
"${fruit,,}" "$tries_left"
fi
done
case $guessed in
"$selection_size")
printf '* * * Congratulations, you guessed all fruilts! * * *\n'
;;
0)
printf 'Sorry you could not guess any of the fruits!\nBasket contained:\n'
print_basket
;;
*)
printf 'Nice! You guessed %d fruits out of %s!\nUnguessed fruits:\n' \
"$guessed" "$selection_size"
print_basket
;;
esac
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
I have been having trouble setting the values of variables that do not currently exist in the workspace. There is a very nice 1-liner that can do this when the value of variable is a scalar (see here), but it is unclear if it can work for array variables and other weird cases (see here).
I was hoping that someone with more Bash expertise could help me create a setToDefault function that could set any variable to a default value in the work space (in a general way that will work for scalars, arrays, file paths and so on).
A test case for how this should work is as follows:
variable_1=(1.00 2.00 3.00)
#variable_2 does not exist and should be set to the default value
#variable_3 does not exist and should be set to the default value
setToDefault variable_1 "a"`
setToDefault variable_2 ("a" "b" "b c")
setToDefault variable_3 "/filepath with spaces/bash will mess up/"
echo ${variable_1[0]}
1.00
echo ${variable_2[2]}
"b c"
echo ${variable_3[0]}
"/filepath with spaces/bash will mess up/"
function setToDefault {
foo=$1
if [ "${!foo}" ]
then
return
fi
bar=$(printf '%s\n' "${#:2}" | paste -sd $'\x1f')
if [ "$3" ]
then
IFS=$'\x1f' read -a $foo <<< "$bar"
else
read $foo <<< "$bar"
fi
}
variable_1=(1.00 2.00 3.00)
setToDefault variable_1 a
setToDefault variable_2 a b 'b c'
setToDefault variable_3 '/filepath with spaces/bash will mess up/'
echo "${variable_1[0]}"
echo "${variable_2[2]}"
echo "${variable_3[0]}"
Result
1.00
b c
/filepath with spaces/bash will mess up/
Here's a pure Bash possibility:
set_to_default() {
# $1 is variable name
# $2, ... are arguments
# If variable pointed by $1 is set then nothing happens
# Otherwise, variable with name $1 is set to the value determined
# by the subsequent parameters:
# * if only $2 is present, variable is set to that value
# * if $2, $3... are present, then variable is set to an
# array with fields $2, $3, ...
(($#<2)) && return 1
local varname=$1
declare -p "$varname" &>/dev/null && return 0
shift
if (( $#==1 )); then
printf -v "$varname" '%s' "$1"
else
declare -ag "$varname=( \"\$#\" )"
fi
}
Basic check:
$ variable_1=( 1.00 2.00 3.00 )
$ set_to_default variable_1 "a"
$ set_to_default variable_2 "a" "b" "b c"
$ set_to_default variable_3 "/filepath with spaces/bash will mess up/"
$ declare -p "${!variable_#}"
declare -a variable_1='([0]="1.00" [1]="2.00" [2]="3.00")'
declare -a variable_2='([0]="a" [1]="b" [2]="b c")'
declare -- variable_3="/filepath with spaces/bash will mess up/"
Also works with embedded newlines and any funny character you can imagine:
$ set_to_default banana $'a newline\nhere' '*' '' ' '
$ declare -p banana
declare -a banana='([0]="a newline
here" [1]="*" [2]="" [3]=" ")'
If you want to set an array with only one field, first declare it as an array. Compare:
$ unset banana
$ set_to_default banana gorilla
$ declare -p banana
declare -- banana="gorilla"
$ unset banana
$ declare -a banana
$ set_to_default banana gorilla
$ declare -p banana
declare -a banana='([0]="gorilla")'
Bash<4
Wait, I just read in a comment that you have Bash 3.2, so this won't work because of the -g flag to declare. Then you'll have to explicit the loop:
set_to_default() {
# $1 is variable name
# $2, ... are arguments
# If variable pointed by $1 is set then nothing happens
# Otherwise, variable with name $1 is set to the value determined
# by the subsequent parameters:
# * if only $2 is present, variable is set to that value
# * if $2, $3... are present, then variable is set to an
# array with fields $2, $3, ...
(($#<2)) && return 1
local varname=$1 i
declare -p "$varname" &>/dev/null && return 0
shift
if (( $#==1 )); then
printf -v "$varname" '%s' "$1"
else
i=0
while IFS= read -r -d '' "$varname[$i]"; do ((++i)); done < <(printf '%s\0' "$#")
fi
}