How to add multiple line of output one by one to a variable in Bash? - bash

Question

This might be a very basic question but I was not able to find solution. I have a script:
If I run w | awk '{print $1}' in command line in my server I get:
f931
smk591
sc271
bx972
gaw844
mbihk988
laid640
smk59
ycc951
Now I need to use this list in my bash script one by one and manipulate some operation on them. I need to check their group and print those are in specific group. The command to check their group is id username. How can I save them or iterate through them one by one in a loop.
what I have so far is
tmp=$(w | awk '{print $1})
But it only return first record! Appreciate any help.

Answer 1

Populate an array with the output of the command:
$ tmp=( $(printf "a\nb\nc\n") )
$ echo "${tmp[0]}"
a
$ echo "${tmp[1]}"
b
$ echo "${tmp[2]}"
c
Replace the printf with your command (i.e. tmp=( $(w | awk '{print $1}') )) and man bash for how to work with bash arrays.
For a lengthier, more robust and complete example:
$ cat ./tstarrays.sh
# saving multi-line awk output in a bash array, one element per line
# See http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2010/06/bash-array-tutorial/ for
# more operations you can perform on an array and its elements.
oSET="$-"; set -f # save original set flags and turn off globbing
oIFS="$IFS"; IFS=$'\n' # save original IFS and make IFS a newline
array=( $(
awk 'BEGIN{
print "the quick brown"
print " fox jumped\tover\tthe"
print "lazy dogs back "
}'
) )
IFS="$oIFS" # restore original IFS value
set +f -$oSET # restore original set flags
for (( i=0; i < ${#array[#]}; i++ ));
do
printf "array[%d] of length=%d: \"%s\"\n" "$i" "${#array[$i]}" "${array[$i]}"
done
printf -- "----------\n"
printf -- "array[#]=\n\"%s\"\n" "${array[#]}"
printf -- "----------\n"
printf -- "array[*]=\n\"%s\"\n" "${array[*]}"
.
$ ./tstarrays.sh
array[0] of length=22: "the quick brown"
array[1] of length=23: " fox jumped over the"
array[2] of length=21: "lazy dogs back "
----------
array[#]=
"the quick brown"
array[#]=
" fox jumped over the"
array[#]=
"lazy dogs back "
----------
array[*]=
"the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs back "
A couple of non-obvious key points to make sure your array gets populated with exactly what your command outputs:
If your command output can contain globbing characters than you should disable globbing before the command (oSET="$-"; set -f) and re-enable it afterwards (set +f -$oSET).
If your command output can contain spaces then set IFS to a newline before the command (oIFS="$IFS"; IFS=$'\n') and set it back to it's old value after the command (IFS="$oIFS").

Answer 2

tmp=$(w | awk '{print $1}')
while read i
do
echo "$i"
done <<< "$tmp"

Answer 3

You can use a for loop, i.e.
for user in $(w | awk '{print $1}'); do echo $user; done
which in a script would look nicer as:
for user in $(w | awk '{print $1}')
do
echo $user
done

Answer 4

You can use the xargs command to do this:
w | awk '{print $1}' | xargs -I '{}' id '{}'
With the -I switch, xargs will take each line of its standard input separately, then construct and execute a command line by replacing the specified string '{}' in the command line template with the input line

Answer 5

I guess you should use who instead of w. Try this out,
who | awk '{print $1}' | xargs -n 1 id