A script takes a URL, parses it for the required fields, and redirects its output to be saved in a file, file.txt. The output is saved on a new line each time a field has been found.
A Cat
A Dog
A Mouse
etc...
I want to take file.txt
and create an array from it in a new script, where every line gets to be its own string variable in the array. So far I have tried:
#!/bin/bash
filename=file.txt
declare -a myArray
myArray=(`cat "$filename"`)
for (( i = 0 ; i < 9 ; i++))
do
echo "Element [$i]: ${myArray[$i]}"
done
When I run this script, whitespace results in words getting split and instead of getting
Element [0]: A Cat
Element [1]: A Dog
etc...
I end up getting this:
Element [0]: A
Element [1]: Cat
Element [2]: A
Element [3]: Dog
etc...
How can I adjust the loop below such that the entire string on each line will correspond one-to-one with each variable in the array?
This question is related to
arrays
bash
loops
scripting
variable-assignment
You can do this too:
oldIFS="$IFS"
IFS=$'\n' arr=($(<file))
IFS="$oldIFS"
echo "${arr[1]}" # It will print `A Dog`.
Note:
Filename expansion still occurs. For example, if there's a line with a literal *
it will expand to all the files in current folder. So use it only if your file is free of this kind of scenario.
mapfile
and readarray
(which are synonymous) are available in Bash version 4 and above. If you have an older version of Bash, you can use a loop to read the file into an array:
arr=()
while IFS= read -r line; do
arr+=("$line")
done < file
In case the file has an incomplete (missing newline) last line, you could use this alternative:
arr=()
while IFS= read -r line || [[ "$line" ]]; do
arr+=("$line")
done < file
Related:
You can simply read each line from the file and assign it to an array.
#!/bin/bash
i=0
while read line
do
arr[$i]="$line"
i=$((i+1))
done < file.txt
This answer says to use
mapfile -t myArray < file.txt
I made a shim for mapfile
if you want to use mapfile
on bash < 4.x for whatever reason. It uses the existing mapfile
command if you are on bash >= 4.x
Currently, only options -d
and -t
work. But that should be enough for that command above. I've only tested on macOS. On macOS Sierra 10.12.6, the system bash is 3.2.57(1)-release
. So the shim can come in handy. You can also just update your bash with homebrew, build bash yourself, etc.
It uses this technique to set variables up one call stack.
Always check your code using shellcheck. It will often give you the correct answer. In this case SC2207 covers reading a file that either has space separated or newline separated values into an array.
array=( $(mycommand) )
mapfile -t array < <(mycommand)
IFS=" " read -r -a array <<< "$(mycommand)"
The shellcheck page will give you the rationale why this is considered best practice.
Source: Stackoverflow.com