How can I use an if statement such as this to compare the element value to a variable. For example i'm going through an array of numbers, and checking the minimum. I'm having syntax problems.
for ((j=0;j<$i;j++)); do
if [ "$array[$j]" -gt $min ]; then
min=${array[$j]}
fi
done
echo The minimum number is $min
Your if statement lacks then clause:
if [ "$array[$j]" -gt $min ]; then
min=${array[$j]}
fi
Also, in the true spirit of UNIX tools, consider something more elegant:
min_elem=$(echo ${array[@]} | tr ' ' '\n' | sort -n | head -1)
for? You need ;do as well
read min_element < <(printf '%s\n' "${array[@]}" | sort -n) to get rid of two unneeded external tools and two unneeded pipes! Oh dear... you thought your thing was elegant...Several comments:
-gt isn't the desired operator for getting the minHere's a simple corrected example (just Bash without other commands) :
#!/bin/bash
array=("1" "0" "2")
length="${#array[@]}"
min="${array[0]}"
for (( i=1 ; i < "$length"; i++)); do
[[ ${array[$i]} -le $min ]] && min="${array[$i]}"
done
echo "The minimum number is $min"
EDIT : Test performed after the comment of gniourf_gniourf (see the comments)
[ ~]$ cat test.sh
#!/bin/bash
array=("1" "0" "2")
m=${array[0]}; for i in "${array[@]:1}"; do ((i<m)) && m=$i; done
echo "The minimum number is $m"
[ ~]$ ./test.sh
The minimum number is 0
[ ~]$ vi test.sh
[ ~]$ cat test.sh
#!/bin/bash
array=("1" "0" "2")
m="${array[0]}"; for i in "${array[@]:1}"; do [[ $i -le $m ]] && m="$i"; done
echo "The minimum number is $m"
[ ~]$ ./test.sh
The minimum number is 0
[ ~]$
m=${array[0]}; for i in "${array[@]:1}"; do ((i<m)) && m=$i; done and I edited your post to fix it!
for el in "${array[i]}".echo ${${(n)ary}[1]}.for el in "${array[@]}"instead!