I need to make variable using two other variable values.
#i have two variable in unix i.e.#
v_a=a
v_b=b
##now i want to combine the two values of the two variable and the result of that i want that as a variable means v_a_b and use it.##
echo 'v_'$v_a'_'$v_b #the output will be v_a_b and i want to use it like $v_a_b
Suppose you have the following vars:
v_a=a
v_b=b
v_a_b="I want this one"
v_a_c="Wrong one!"
How do you get I want this one using the values of v_a and v_b ?
You can use eval, but try to avoid that:
# don't do this
eval echo "\$v_${v_a}_${v_b}"
You need a new variable , lets call it c and get the value of the constructed var:
c="v_${v_a}_${v_b}"
echo "Using the exclamation mark for retrieving the valueCombined: ${!c}"
Another way is using printf:
printf -v c "v_%s_%s" "${v_a}" "${v_b}"
echo "Combined: ${!c}"
Use eval to explicitly pre-evaluate an expression.
for your question,
eval 'echo \$v_"$v_a"_"$v_b"'
should work fine,
echo \$v_"$v_a"_"$v_b" evaluates to echo $v_a_b, then the intermediate result is evaluated again, so in effect, we get the result of $(echo $v_a_b)
note: you might want to quote the variable $v_a_b:
eval 'echo \"\$v_"$v_a"_"$v_b"\"'
If I understand correctly, you want to concatenate the contents of variables v_a and v_b (along with some fixed strings 'v_' and '_') then store it in a variable named v_a_b.
v_a=a
v_b=b
v_a_b='v_'$a'_'$b
echo $v_a_b
The output is v_a_b.
v_a=a
v_b=b
v_a_b=c
eval V_XYZ='$'"v_"$v_a"_"$v_b
echo 'Value= '$V_XYZ
output will be c
Related
I am creating dynamic arrays which all have different letters in their name. For the purpose of this question, my initial array of letters has been set at a fixed length. However, in my final implementation this letter array will be any length.
For each letter, I construct a string
I declare a new array with that string, making use of eval to evaluate the variable's value within the declare command.
I add some values to the array, again using eval to evaluate any variable values.
Here is the code:
declare -a LETTER_ARRAY=( "A" "B" "C" "D" "E" )
for i in "${LETTER_ARRAY[#]}"
do
name_string="apple${i}"
color0="red"
color1="green"
eval "declare -a ${name_string}_array"
eval "${name_string}_array[0]=$color0"
eval "${name_string}_array[1]=$color1"
done
So, how can I iterate through these dynamic arrays and echo what is in them? I have tried the following:
for i in "${LETTER_ARRAY[#]}"
do
eval "array_name='apple${i}_array'"
echo ${array_name[0]}
done
This has not worked for me. I can confirm that my dynamic arrays were successfully created and populated, as when I echo out a value manually, I get a result:
echo ${appleA_array[0]}
red
A perfect place to use a namereference:
letter_array=(A B C D E)
for i in "${letter_array[#]}"; do
declare -n var="apple${i}_array"
var[0]=red
var[1]=green
done
declare -p appleA_array
would output:
declare -a appleA_array=([0]="red" [1]="green")
how can I iterate through these dynamic arrays and echo what is in them?
With the above:
for i in "${letter_array[#]}"; do
declare -n var="apple${i}_array"
printf "%s\n" "${var[0]}"
done
Notes:
Do not use eval. Eval is evil.
Do not use upper case variables, by convention they are used for exported variables, like COLUMNS, PWD, UID, EUID, LINES. Use lower case variables in your scripts.
Check your scripts with http://shellcheck.net for most common mistakes
But if you are creating a 2d array, then an associative array might be better:
declare -A apple_arrays
letter_array=(A B C D E)
for i in "${letter_array[#]}"; do
apple_arrays[$i,0]=red
apple_arrays[$i,1]=green
done
for i in "${letter_array[#]}"; do
printf "one=%s two=%s\n" "${apple_arrays[$i,0]}" "${apple_arrays[$i,1]}"
done
how can I iterate through these dynamic arrays
echo ${array_name[0]} does not work because array_name is not the name of an array; $array_name is. Therefore, eval "echo \"\${${array_name}[0]}\"" would to the trick.
However, I'd recommend namerefs.
By The way: declare works without eval and is more reliable that way.
#! /usr/bin/env bash
letters=({A..E})
for i in "${letters[#]}"; do
declare -a "apple${i}_array=(red green)"
done
for i in "${letters[#]}"; do
declare -n array="apple${i}_array"
# now you can use `array` as if it was `appleA_array`, `appleB_array`, ...
echo "${array[0]}"
done
Your first line is not bash syntax. If I try the line
declare -a LETTER_ARRAY = [ "A" "B" "C" "D" "E" ]
I get:
bash: declare: `=': not a valid identifier
bash: declare: `[': not a valid identifier
bash: declare: `]': not a valid identifier
I think, you get similar error messages, but you ignored them
More errors:
Forgotten do
case mismatch: suffix on definition: _array, and for output: _ARRAY
Use always double quotes when using [#]
One correct syntax is:
declare -a LETTER_ARRAY=( "A" "B" "C" "D" "E" )
for i in "${LETTER_ARRAY[#]}"
do
name_string="apple${i}"
color0="red"
color1="green"
eval "declare -a ${name_string}_array"
echo "${name_string}_array[0]=$color0"
eval "${name_string}_array[0]=$color0"
eval "${name_string}_array[1]=$color1"
done
echo ${appleA_array[0]}
Your eval "array_name='AZ${i}_ARRAY'" makes array_name a scalar, not an array. Arrays in bash are usually created like this
arr=( your elements go here )
If you want to assign one array to another, you have to interpolate the elements between those parenthesis, for instance:
arr=( ${other_array[#]} )
Since you are using bash, this would perform word splitting the elements of other_array, if they contain spaces. Hence you would usually write it for the safe side as
arr=( "${other_array[#]}" )
Hence, for your case, you could do a
eval "array_name=( \${AZ${i}_ARRAY[#]} )"
This causes an array array_name to be created, with the elements of the respective AZi_ARRAY.
I omitted here for simplicity the prevention against word splitting, because in your example, the array elements contain single words only.
Would like to read multiple values from a property file using a shell script
My properties files looks something like below, the reason I added it following way was to make sure, if in future more students joins I just need to add in in the properties file without changing any thing in the shell script.
student.properties
total_student=6
student_name_1="aaaa"
student_name_2="bbbb"
student_name_3="cccc"
student_name_4="dddd"
student_name_5="eeee"
When I run below script I not getting the desired output, for reading the student names from properties file
student.sh
#!/bin/bash
. /student.properties
i=1
while [ $i -lt $total_student ]
do
{
std_Name=$student_name_$i
echo $std_Name
#****** my logic *******
} || {
echo "ERROR..."
}
i=`expr $i + 1`
done
Output is something like this
1
2
3
4
5
I understand the script is not getting anything for $student_name_ hence only $i value is getting printed.
Hence, wanted to know how to read values from the properties file.
You can do variable name interpolation with ${!foo}. If $foo is "bar", then ${!foo} gives you the value of $bar. In your code that means changing
std_Name=$student_name_$i
to
var=student_name_$i
std_Name=${!var}
Alternatively, you could store the names in an array. Then you wouldn't have to do any parsing.
student.properties
student_names=("aaaa" "bbbb" "cccc" "dddd" "eeee")
student.sh
#!/bin/bash
. /student.properties
for student_name in "${student_names[#]}"; do
...
done
You can use indirect expansion:
std_Name=student_name_$i
echo "${!std_Name}"
the expression ${!var} basically evaluates the variable twice:
first evaluation: student_name_1
second evaluation: foo
Note that this is rarely a good idea and that using an array is almost always preferred.
n=1
test=1000
test1=aaa
I'm trying:
echo $test$n
to get
aaa
But I get
10001
I'm trying to use it that way because I have variables: lignePortTCP1,lignePortTCP2,lignePortTCP1, ETC in a for loop like this:
declare -i cpt3
cpt3=0
for ((i = 1; i <= cpt; i++)); do
cpt3=cpt3+1
echo "Port/Protocole : $lignePortTCP$cpt3 - Nom du Service : $ligneServiceTCP$cpt3"
done
Given the assigned variables
n=1
test1=aaa
...and you want to print aaa given the values of test and n, then put the name you want to expand in its own variable, and expand that with the ! operator, like so:
varname="test$n"
echo "${!varname}"
This is explicitly discussed in BashFAQ #6.
That said, variable indirection is not a particularly good practice -- usually, you can do better using arrays, whether associative or otherwise.
For instance:
test=( aaa bbb ccc )
n=0
echo "${test[n]}"
...for values not starting at 0:
test=( [1]=aaa [2]=bbb [3]=ccc )
n=1
echo "${test[n]}"
If you want to subtract the values of test and n, wrap the computation in $(( ... )) and use
the - operator:
$((test-n))
You could also use eval, though it's probably not better than the technique provided by Charles Duffy.
$ n=1
$ test=1000
$ test1=aaa
$ eval echo \${test$n}
aaa
One way would be to use ${!}, but you have to store the combined name in its own variable for that to work:
var=test$n
echo "${!var}"
If you have control over how the variables get assigned in the first place, it would be better to use an array. Instead of lignePortTCP1, lignePortTCP2, etc., you would assign the values to lignePortTCP[0], lignePortTCP[1], etc. and then retrieve them with ${lignePort[$n]}.
Regardless of the number of arguments passed to my script, I would like for the second to the last argument to always represent a specific variable in my code.
Executing the program I'd type something like this:
sh myprogram.sh -a arg_a -b arg_b special specific
test=("${3}")
echo $test
The results will show 'special'. So using that same idea if I try this (since I won't know that number of arguments):
secondToLastArg=$(($#-1))
echo $secondToLastArg
The results will show '3'. How do I dynamically assign the second to last argument?
You need a bit of math to get the number you want ($(($#-1))), then use indirection (${!n}) to get the actual argument.
$ set -- a b c
$ echo $#
a b c
$ n=$(($#-1))
$ echo $n
2
$ echo ${!n}
b
$
Indirection (${!n}) tells bash to use the value of n as the name of the variable to use ($2, in this case).
You can use $# as array & array chopping methods:
echo ${#:$(($#-1)):1}
It means, use 1 element starting from $(($#-1))...
If some old versions of shells do not support ${array:start:length} syntax but support only ${array:start} syntax, use below hack:
echo ${#:$(($#-1))} | { read x y ; echo $x; } # OR
read x unused <<< `echo ${#:$(($#-1))}`
After thoroughly searching for a way to create an associative array in bash, I found that declare -A array will do the trick. But the problem is, it is only for bash version 4 and the bash version the server has in our system is 3.2.16.
How can I achieve some sort of associative array-like hack in bash 3? The values will be passed to a script like
ARG=array[key];
./script.sh ${ARG}
EDIT: I know that I can do this in awk, or other tools but strict bash is needed for the scenario I am trying to solve.
Bash 3 has no associative arrays, so you're going to have to use some other language feature(s) for your purpose. Note that even under bash 4, the code you wrote doesn't do what you claim it does: ./script.sh ${ARG} does not pass the associative array to the child script, because ${ARG} expands to nothing when ARG is an associative array. You cannot pass an associative array to a child process, you need to encode it anyway.
You need to define some argument passing protocol between the parent script and the child script. A common one is to pass arguments in the form key=value. This assumes that the character = does not appear in keys.
You also need to figure out how to represent the associative array in the parent script and in the child script. They need not use the same representation.
A common method to represent an associative array is to use separate variables for each element, with a common naming prefix. This requires that the key name only consists of ASCII letters (of either case), digits and underscores. For example, instead of ${myarray[key]}, write ${myarray__key}. If the key is determined at run time, you need a round of expansion first: instead of ${myarray[$key]}, write
n=myarray__${key}; echo ${!n}
For an assignment, use printf -v. Note the %s format to printf to use the specified value. Do not write printf -v "myarray__${key}" %s "$value" since that would treat $value as a format and perform printf % expansion on it.
printf -v "myarray__${key}" %s "$value"
If you need to pass an associative array represented like this to a child process with the key=value argument representation, you can use ${!myarray__*} to enumerate over all the variables whose name begins with myarray__.
args=()
for k in ${!myarray__*}; do
n=$k
args+=("$k=${!n}")
done
In the child process, to convert arguments of the form key=value to separate variables with a prefix:
for x; do
if [[ $x != *=* ]]; then echo 1>&2 "KEY=VALUE expected, but got $x"; exit 120; fi
printf -v "myarray__${x%%=*}" %s "${x#*=}"
done
By the way, are you sure that this is what you need? Instead of calling a bash script from another bash script, you might want to run the child script in a subshell instead. That way it would inherit from all the variables of the parent.
Here is another post/explanation on associative arrays in bash 3 and older using parameter expansion:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/4444841
Gilles' method has a nice if statement to catch delimiter issues, sanitize oddball input ...etc. Use that.
If you are somewhat familiar with parameter expansion:
http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Shell-Parameter-Expansion.html
To use in your scenario [ as stated: sending to script ]:
Script 1:
sending_array.sh
# A pretend Python dictionary with bash 3
ARRAY=( "cow:moo"
"dinosaur:roar"
"bird:chirp"
"bash:rock" )
bash ./receive_arr.sh "${ARRAY[#]}"
Script 2: receive_arr.sh
argAry1=("$#")
function process_arr () {
declare -a hash=("${!1}")
for animal in "${hash[#]}"; do
echo "Key: ${animal%%:*}"
echo "Value: ${animal#*:}"
done
}
process_arr argAry1[#]
exit 0
Method 2, sourcing the second script:
Script 1:
sending_array.sh
source ./receive_arr.sh
# A pretend Python dictionary with bash 3
ARRAY=( "cow:moo"
"dinosaur:roar"
"bird:chirp"
"bash:rock" )
process_arr ARRAY[#]
Script 2: receive_arr.sh
function process_arr () {
declare -a hash=("${!1}")
for animal in "${hash[#]}"; do
echo "Key: ${animal%%:*}"
echo "Value: ${animal#*:}"
done
}
References:
Passing arrays as parameters in bash
If you don't want to handle a lot of variables, or keys are simply invalid variable identifiers, and your array is guaranteed to have less than 256 items, you can abuse function return values. This solution does not require any subshell as the value is readily available as a variable, nor any iteration so that performance screams. Also it's very readable, almost like the Bash 4 version.
Here's the most basic version:
hash_index() {
case $1 in
'foo') return 0;;
'bar') return 1;;
'baz') return 2;;
esac
}
hash_vals=("foo_val"
"bar_val"
"baz_val");
hash_index "foo"
echo ${hash_vals[$?]}
More details and variants in this answer
You can write the key-value pairs to a file and then grep by key. If you use a pattern like
key=value
then you can egrep for ^key= which makes this pretty safe.
To "overwrite" a value, just append the new value at the end of the file and use tail -1 to get just the last result of egrep
Alternatively, you can put this information into a normal array using key=value as value for the array and then iterator over the array to find the value.
This turns out to be ridiculously easy. I had to convert a bash 4 script that used a bunch of associative arrays to bash 3. These two helper functions did it all:
array_exp() {
exp=${#//[/__}
eval "${exp//]}"
}
array_clear() {
unset $(array_exp "echo \${!$1__*}")
}
I'm flabbergasted that this actually works, but that's the beauty of bash.
E.g.
((all[ping_lo] += counts[ping_lo]))
becomes
array_exp '((all[ping_lo] += counts[ping_lo]))'
Or this print statement:
printf "%3d" ${counts[ping_lo]} >> $return
becomes
array_exp 'printf "%3d" ${counts[ping_lo]}' >> $return
The only syntax that changes is clearing. This:
counts=()
becomes
array_clear counts
and you're set. You could easily tell array_exp to recognize expressions like "=()" and handle them by rewriting them as array_clear expressions, but I prefer the simplicity of the above two functions.