Bash array export workaround

Question

We know that exporting arrays in a canonical way is impossible, but I am interested in finding a workaround. I have a following scenario: a list of variables is loaded from a file to an array during startup, and I need to have that array visible to several bash scripts that may or may not be executed in the parent environment (. example.sh or just example.sh). I tried many things, but something like this seems as most promising:

export j=1
export array$j=something

And then I tried to access the value using:

echo ${array[$j]}      #doesn't work in child script
echo $(echo \$array$j) #displays the actual '$array1' instead of 'something'

Any suggestions?

that other guy · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-05 23:11:33Z

2

You can look up values through indirection using parameter expansion:

j=1
array1=something

name="array$j"
echo "The value of $name is ${!name}"

answered Jun 5, 2014 at 23:11

that other guy

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