How can I split a string into array in shell script?
I tried with IFS='delimiter' and it works with loops (for, while) but I need an array from that string.
How can I make an array from a string?
Thanks!
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4 Answers
str=a:b:c:d:e
set -f
IFS=:
ary=($str)
for key in "${!ary[@]}"; do echo "$key ${ary[$key]}"; done
outputs
0 a
1 b
2 c
3 d
4 e
Another (bash) technique:
str=a:b:c:d:e
IFS=: read -ra ary <<<"$str"
This limits the change to the IFS variable only for the duration of the read command.
10 Comments
Gábor Varga
It doesn't work. Error message say expected "(" in the line where it is ary=($str).
glenn jackman
This is specifically bash syntax. What shell are you using? If you script has
#!/bin/sh change to #!/bin/bashglenn jackman
how do you invoke your script?
Gábor Varga
i don't understand (how am i running this?)
glenn jackman
@SJunejo, the only array-like data structure in /bin/sh are the positional parameters:
set -- $str; for element in "$@"; do echo $element; done. If you really need an array, you need to choose a different tool for the job. |
#!/bin/bash
str=a:b:c:d:e
arr=(${str//:/ })
OUTPUT:
echo ${arr[@]}
a b c d e
Comments
Found a solution that doesn't require changing the IFS or a loop:
str=a:b:c:d:e
arr=(`echo $str | cut -d ":" --output-delimiter=" " -f 1-`)
output:
echo ${arr[@]}
a b c d e
1 Comment
Louis Huang
for ELEMENT in $(echo 'a,b,c' | cut -d ',' --output-delimiter=' ' -f 1-) do echo "$ELEMENT" done
Combining the answers above into something that worked for me
set -- `echo $PATH|cut -d':' --output-delimiter=" " -f 1-`; for i in "$@"; do echo $i; done
gives
# set -- `echo $PATH|cut -d':' --output-delimiter=" " -f 1-`; for i in "$@"; do echo $i; done
/usr/local/sbin
/usr/local/bin
/usr/sbin
/usr/bin
/sbin
/bin
#
3 Comments
greybeard
Using $PATH for a test string is a nice touch, but: way too complicated, and how does this differ from, e.g, zzk's answer?
Richard Braganza
@greybeard tl;dr It doesn't :) - I found zzk's answer did not quite work for me so adjusted it by the
set -- and then collate with useful stuff from the multiple answers given. This was for my own purposes but also share back if others had the same issueRichard Braganza
FWIW I needed to run multiple tests against all folders listed in the path - mainly for auditing against privilege escalation issues.