Error in creating array variable in Debian 8.4

Question

I have a very basic shell script containing

#!/bin/sh
NAME[0]="Hello"
echo ${NAME[0]}

So when I run this script an error occurs stating

./test.sh: 2: ./test.sh: NAME[0]=Hello: not found
./test.sh: 3: ./test.sh: Bad substitution

So basically I looked through a few tutorials and found this to be the basic way to declare arrays. So I am confused as to why this is an error. Any ideas?

You're running /bin/sh, If that shell is in fact bash, calling it by that name puts it in POSIX compatibility mode, where there are no arrays. Use shebang of #!/usr/bin/env bash instead. — ghoti
– ghoti, Commented Apr 22, 2016 at 20:06

Tejendra · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-23 15:18:00Z

3

You are starting your script as #!/bin/sh, which has a soft link to dash (The current version of sh which conforms with the POSIX 1003.2 and 1003.2a specifications for the shell) and dash doesn't support arrays. In debian 8 onwards dash has become default shell, so if you run ls -la /bin/sh the output will be /bin/sh -> dash

However bash still remains the default login shell, only the default /bin/sh used in shell scripts has been changed. So if you run your code on terminal, it will work just fine. More information on why this switch was made in Ubuntu can be found here.

If you want to use arrays in your script then you must start your script with #!/bin/bash

So your script works perfectly if modified like this

#!/bin/bash
NAME[0]="Hello"
echo ${NAME[0]}

More information on Dash as Sh DashAsBinSh

edited Apr 23, 2016 at 15:18

answered Apr 22, 2016 at 18:25

Tejendra

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2 Comments

Patrick Over a year ago

It worked, thanks! Can i also consider bash as the default shell since I didnt install it? It was already there when I installed the os.

Tejendra Over a year ago

@Patrick bash remains the default login shell, only the default /bin/sh used in shell scripts has been changed, more information can be found here

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