Combine multiple cut commands into variable assignations into one cut command

Question

Given a previously defined $LINE in a shell script, I do the following

var1=$(echo $LINE | cut -d, -f4)
var2=$(echo $LINE | cut -d, -f5)
var3=$(echo $LINE | cut -d, -f6)

Is there any way for me to combine it into one command, where the cut is run only once? Something like

var1,var2,var3=$(echo $LINE | cut -d, -f4,5,6)

glenn jackman · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-22 11:45:38Z

9

The builtin read command can assign to multiple variables:

IFS=, read _ _ _ var1 var2 var3 _ <<< "$LINE"

edited Dec 22, 2012 at 11:45

answered Dec 22, 2012 at 4:10

glenn jackman

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1 Comment

gniourf_gniourf Over a year ago

Definitely the best answer, except that you assumed that there are only 6 fields. Maybe read _ _ _ var1 var2 var3 _ would be more appropriate?

zebediah49 · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-21 23:06:27Z

4

yes, if you're ok with arrays:

var= ( $(echo $LINE | cut -d, --output-delimiter=' ' -f4-6) )

Note that that make var 0-indexed.

Though it might just be quicker and easier to turn the CSV $LINE into something that bash parenthesis understand, and then just do var = ( $LINE ).

EDIT: The above will cause issues if you have spaces in your $LINE... if so, you need to be a bit more careful, and AWK might be a better choice to add quotes:

var= ( $( echo $LINE | awk IFS=, '{print "\"$4\" \"$5\" \"$6\""}' ) )

answered Dec 21, 2012 at 23:06

zebediah49

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2 Comments

saccharine Over a year ago

Yup just what I was looking for. Didn't know the ( $LINE ) thing changed everything to an array. Thanks.

ormaaj Over a year ago

This is a bad answer. Don't wordsplit command substitution output. Also, it won't work to begin with due to incorrect assignment syntax.

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