bash use a whitespace separator to store an array?

Question

I have a file with loads of from / to date strings taken from output of certificates files in the following format:

Jan 9 2015 Mar 2 2017

What would be the best way to split the string and store it in an array?

fromDate=Jan 9 2015
toDate=Mar 2 2017

Which I then want to apply the date command to

date $fromDate +%Y-%m-%d && date $toDate +%Y-%m-%d

Would I use 3rd whitespace as a separator or is there a better way to do it?

choroba · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-12 11:53:57Z

3

There's no array involved.

You can read six things separated by whitespace, then group them together by doublequoting the variables:

#! /bin/bash
while read m1 d1 y1 m2 d2 y2 ; do
    date -d "$m1 $d1 $y1" +%Y-%m-%d
    date -d "$m2 $d2 $y2" +%Y-%m-%d 
done < <(echo Jan 9 2015 Mar 2 2017)

Replace the final <(echo ...) with the actual input.

answered Mar 12, 2016 at 11:53

choroba

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5 Comments

Paul Dawson Over a year ago

Thanks! How could I get them to print on the same line?

user2021201 Over a year ago

to print them on the same line try: echo `date -d "$m1 $d1 $y1" +%Y-%m-%d` `date -d "$m2 $d2 $y2" +%Y-%m-%d`

Benjamin W. Over a year ago

Why not read m1 d1 y1 m2 d2 y2 <<< 'Jan 9 2015 Mar 2 2017' instead of while read ...; do ... done < <(echo ...)?

choroba Over a year ago

@BenjaminW.: Because the <(echo ...) is a placeholder of the input file which might contain more than one line.

Benjamin W. Over a year ago

Ah, I see "file" in the question now. Makes sense!

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