Assigning strings to array elements in Bash, syntax error?

Question

This line from a loop is supposed to add the three strings together

for each $drivecount
${drives[$drivecount]}=${info[$count+1]}" "${info[$count+2]}" "${info[$count+3]}

Here is the error I am getting:

./erasehd.sh: line 17: =/dev/sda: 80.0 GB: No such file or directory

It looks like it is including the = as part of the first string?

shellter · Accepted Answer · 2012-12-28 18:08:29Z

2

./erasehd.sh: line 17: =/dev/sda: 80.0 GB: No such file or directory

No, its ignoring the undeclared variable at the front and trying to execute =/dev/sda... as a command. ;-) .... You want

for each $drivecount
drives[$drivecount]=${info[$count+1]}" "${info[$count+2]}" "${info[$count+3]}

When setting a variable, you never want a leading '$' on a variable, or put another way, typically you don't want a '$' on the left-hand-side of the '=' assignment.

I'm not familiar with the for each construct in bash. Are you sure that is right? I would expect something like

for drivecount in 1 2 3 ; do
 ....

Finally, the syntax you included is used for referencing an array element, unrelated to assignments.

for dc in 1 2 3 ; do
  echo ${drives[$dc]}
done

IHTH.

edited Dec 28, 2012 at 18:08

answered Dec 28, 2012 at 2:52

shellter

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