How a sort associative array bash script

Question

How do I sort an associative array in bash?

For example, I have array in bash:

[0,0]="Max"
[0,1]="25"
[1,0]="Vladimir"
[1,1]="0"
[2,0]="Mayki"
[2,1]="50"

Output must be:

Mayki - 50
Max - 25
Vladimir - 0

I don't know how sort this array.

Additional Info: I parse assoc array from text file ("log.txt")

    #!/bin/bash

declare -A b_array

# Read the file in parameter and fill the array named "array"
getArray() {

    i=0
    w=9

    count=10

    while read line # Read a line
    do
        k=0
        #array[i]=$line # Put it into the array

        #b_array[$i,0]=$(grep -Eo "(http|https)://[a-zA-Z0-9./?=_-]*" <<<"$line") 

        for word in $line;
          do  
                  #echo $k;
                  #echo $word;
                  if [ "$k" = "$w" ]; then
                      if [ $word != "-" ]; then
                        b_array[$i]=$word 
                        i=$(($i + 1))
                      fi 

                  fi 
                  k=$(($k + 1))
            done


    done < $1
}

getArray "log.txt"

You're better off using a language with better data structure support. — chepner
– chepner, Commented Apr 24, 2015 at 14:53
What does the input actually look like? What does that example array have to do with anything? You aren't creating one like that (bash can't do it). You don't appear to have one like that in the input (though that isn't at all clear). Associative arrays don't have an order so the best you could do is fetch and sort the keys and then loop over that sorted list of keys. — Etan Reisner
– Etan Reisner, Commented Apr 24, 2015 at 15:01
The original mission: I need to parse the file and display 10 lines of queries by the number of bytes. — Максим Борисов
– Максим Борисов, Commented Apr 24, 2015 at 15:08
This is a really odd way to use an associative array. One would usually use the name as the key: ([Max]=25 [Mayki]=50 [Vladimir]=0) — rici
– rici, Commented Apr 24, 2015 at 16:23

David C. Rankin · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-24 16:05:04Z

1

There are a couple of approaches to this problem. One of the easiest is probably to read the pairs of strings into an indexed array and then reverse numeric sort on the number field:

#!/bin/bash

declare -A arr
declare -a sa

arr[0,0]="Max"
arr[0,1]="25"
arr[1,0]="Vladimir"
arr[1,1]="0"
arr[2,0]="Mayki"
arr[2,1]="50"

## convert associative array to 
#  indexed array of string pairs
#  (e.g. "Max - 25", "Mayki - 50" )
for i in ${!arr[@]}; do                         # for each key in ar

    x=${i%,*}                                   # separate x,y values
    y=${i#*,}
    (( y == 1 )) && continue                    # if y == 1, continue

    for j in ${!arr[@]}; do                     # for each key in ar

        _x=${j%,*}                              # separate _x,_y values
        _y=${j#*,}
        ((x != _x)) || ((_y == 0)) && continue  # if x != _x, or _y == 0, continue

        sa+=( "${arr[$i]} - ${arr[$j]}" )       # add combined string to indexed sa

    done
done

sort -r -k3 -n <<<"$(printf "%s\n" "${sa[@]}")" # numeric reverse sort sa on key3

exit 0

Output

$ bash sort_assoc.sh
Mayki - 50
Max - 25
Vladimir - 0

edited Apr 24, 2015 at 16:05

answered Apr 24, 2015 at 15:37

David C. Rankin

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9 Comments

David C. Rankin Over a year ago

What errors? I have GNU bash, version 4.3.33 There are other ways to sort the indexed array if that is giving you problems. I checked, also works on GNU bash, version 4.2.37 (oldest I have)

Максим Борисов Over a year ago

: No such file or directoryh : command not found ': not a valid identifier ar ': not a valid identifier sa : command not found : command not found sort.sh: line 36: syntax error: unexpected end of file -bash-4.1$

David C. Rankin Over a year ago

What? are you sure you copied/pasted it exactly? Let's change ar to arr to not conflict with the external ar command (which it shouldn't anyway) Try it now.

Максим Борисов Over a year ago

Sorry, check the code on the server console VPS (4.1). It is still on the virtual machine will try to run (4.3).

David C. Rankin Over a year ago

Ok, it works perfectly. I've ran in on multiple machines (Archlinux & openSuSE) to confirm. The ar ': not a valid identifier and sa : command not found : command not found sort.sh: line 36 errors make No sense. There is something suspect with your shell interpreter if you are getting those errors. Let me know what you find out.

|

choroba · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-24 15:05:38Z

1

I'd probably switch to Perl for such a complicated task, even if it's still doable in bash:

#!/bin/bash

declare -A arr
arr=([0,0]="Max"
     [0,1]="25"
     [1,0]="Vladimir"
     [1,1]="0"
     [2,0]="Mayki"
     [2,1]="50"
     [10,0]=Ivan
     [10,1]=10
    )

indices=( $( (IFS=$'\n' ; echo "${!arr[*]}") | grep ,0 | cut -d, -f1 | sort ) )

for i in "${indices[@]}" ; do
    echo ${arr[$i,0]} ${arr[$i,1]}
done | sort -rnk2

It would be much simpler if you defined the array like

arr=([Max]=25
     [Vladimir]=0
     [Mayki]=50
     [Ivan]=10
    )

for paren in "${!arr[@]}" ; do
    echo $paren ${arr[$paren]}
done | sort -rnk2

edited Apr 24, 2015 at 15:05

answered Apr 24, 2015 at 14:58

choroba

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6 Comments

Максим Борисов Over a year ago

I have error: : command not found ': not a valid identifier: arr : command not found : command not found 'est3.sh: line 16: syntax error near unexpected token do 'est3.sh: line 16: `for i in "${indices[@]}" ; do

choroba Over a year ago

@МаксимБорисов: What version of bash?

choroba Over a year ago

@МаксимБорисов: It should work. Did you copy and paste the code?

choroba Over a year ago

@МаксимБорисов: Blocked here :-(

choroba Over a year ago

@МаксимБорисов: Can't access either :-(

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