whats going wrong? Awk output from a Temporary variable into BASH array

Question

I declare a temporary file

    TEMPFILE="$(mktemp)"

Then I have an awk statement fill it with an output... Next step, I have another AWK statement take out particular field to put into an array... this is 'crapping out'

DATES = ($(awk -F'/' '{print $2}' '${TEMPFILE}'))

I'm also parsing out into a separate array using a CUT (not sure if it's working either)

IPS = ($(cut -f2 $(TEMPFILE)))

I'm getting the error:

Script12.sh: line 36: syntax error near unexpected token `('

Script12.sh: line 36: `DATES = ($(awk -F'/' '{print $2}' '${TEMPFILE}'))'*

Jens · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-04 17:24:23Z

3

The shell is space-sensitive. The shell syntax for assignment is

var1=[word1] ...

where the [] indicates an optional part, and ... repetition.

Note: no blanks around the = sign.

Then, there is no parameter expansion (replacing $var with its value) inside single quotes. Use double quotes:

DATES=($(awk -F/ '{print $2}' "${TEMPFILE}"))

edited Jun 4, 2013 at 17:24

answered Jun 4, 2013 at 17:18

Jens

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1 Comment

Gordon Davisson Over a year ago

Note that while spaces are forbidden around the = in an assignment, they're required in a test. E.g. if [ "$foo" = "$bar" ] does what you expect, while if [ "$foo"="$bar" ] does something completely different (and useless). And if ["$foo"="$bar"] will get you a command not found error...

Mingliang Liu · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-04 17:27:30Z

3

Don't use blanks for variable assignment in BASH. There should be no blanks around the = sign

edited Jun 4, 2013 at 17:27

answered Jun 4, 2013 at 17:16

Mingliang Liu

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Mingliang Liu Over a year ago

@TimEagle I'd like to. But Jens has made it much clearer than me. I thus voted hime up :-)

Ed Morton · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-04 17:18:18Z

2

You can't put spaces around assignments in shell and you need to change single to double quotes around your shell variable when used in your awk command line, i.e. "$TEMPFILE" not '${TEMPFILE}' and then not try to execute that variable on your cut command line (think about what $(TEMPFILE) means).

answered Jun 4, 2013 at 17:18

Ed Morton

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