Bash Arrays

Internal

• bash

Indexed Arrays

External

• http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Arrays.html#Arrays
• http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/arrays.html

Indexed Arrays Overview

bash indexed arrays are 0-based and unidimensional. No explicit declaration is necessary if at least one element is initialized as described below:

Indexed Arrays Declaration

Arrays do not need explicit declarations, they will be automatically declared upon the first assignment of any of their elements:

my_array_var[0]="something"

They can be explicitly declared, though:

declare -a my_array_var

Previously declared arrays can be listed with:

declare -a

An array variable can be "undeclared" with the "unset" builtin.

unset my_array_var

Individual array elements can also be unset:

unset my_array_var[subscript] 

A subscript of "*" or "@" also removes the entire array.

Indexed Arrays Assignment

Assign Indexed Array Individual Elements

Individual elements are initialized by using ${var-name[index]}=value notation:

a[0]="something"

Entire Indexed Array

The (value ...) or ([index]=value ...) syntax can be used to initialize an entire array. The values must be separated by space:

a=("X" "Y" "Z")

If we want initialize only specific elements, we can use this syntax:

a=([0]="X" [4]="Y" [8]="Z")

Indexed Arrays Reference

Reference Individual Indexed Array Elements

Element arrays can be referenced with ${var-name[index]} notation:

echo ${a[0]}

If the array variable was not previously declared, or if the specific element was not initialized, a reference attempt will return the blank string.

Reference All Indexed Array Elements

If '@' or '*' is used as subscript, the following expressions expand to all members of the array:

${var_name[@]}
${var_name[*]}

Length of an Indexed Array

${#var_name[@]}
${#var_name[*]}

If the array is sparse, this does not return the index of last element plus one, but just the number of non-empty elements.

Iterate over an Indexed Array

Using the Indexed Array Elements

for i in ${array_var[@]}; do
   ...
done

Using the Index

i=0
while [[ ${i} < ${#array_var[@]} ]]; do
  echo ${array_var[$i]}
  ((i++))
done

Note that this does not work when the array is sparse, because ${#array_var[@]} only returns the number of non-empty elements, and not the array length.

Indexed Array Use Cases

Read the Content of a File into An Indexed Array

Each line will be assigned to an element of the array:

readarray < ./somefile.txt -t my_array_var

Assign Words Read from stdin to an Indexed Array

Assing words read from stdin to an array:

read -a

Iterate Over the Argument List

args=("$@")
for arg in ${args[@]}; do
  ...
done

Associative Arrays

Associative Array Overview

Associative arrays can be used to implement sets and maps in bash. The most common usage as set is to insert elements whose subscript is identical with the value.

Associative Array Declaration

Associative arrays must be explicitly declare before initialization, otherwise unexpected behavior may occur. This is different from the behavior of the indexed arrays, which can be used without explicit declaration.

declare -A my_assoc_array

Previously declared associative arrays can be listed with:

declare -A

An associative array variable can be "undeclared" with the "unset" builtin.

unset my_assoc_array

Associative Array Assignment

Assign Individual Associative Array Elements

Individual elements are initialized by using ${var-name[key]}=value notation:

a["color"]="blue"

Entire Associative Array

The (["key"]="value" ...) syntax can be used to initialize an entire array. The values must be separated by space:

a=(["color]="red" ["size"]="small")

Associative Array Reference

Reference Individual Associative Array Elements

Element arrays can be referenced with ${var-name[key]} notation:

echo ${a["color"]}

If the array variable was not previously declared, or if the specific element was not initialized, a reference attempt will return the blank string.

Reference All Associative Array Elements

If '@' or '*' is used as subscript, the following expressions expand to all members of the array:

${var_name[@]}
${var_name[*]}

Length

${#var_name[@]}
${#var_name[*]}

If the array is sparse, this does not return the index of last element plus one, but just the number of non-empty elements.

Iterate

Using the Elements

for i in ${array_var[@]}; do
   ...
done

Using the Index

i=0
while [[ ${i} < ${#array_var[@]} ]]; do
  echo ${array_var[$i]}
  ((i++))
done

Note that this does not work when the array is sparse, because ${#array_var[@]} only returns the number of non-empty elements, and not the array length.

Use Cases

Read the Content of a File into An Array

Each line will be assigned to an element of the array:

readarray < ./somefile.txt -t my_array_var

Assign Words Read from stdin to an Array

Assing words read from stdin to an array:

read -a

Iterate Over the Argument List

args=("$@")
for arg in ${args[@]}; do
  ...
done