Grep output lines in array

Question

I'm trying to put my grep output lines into an array as elements.

The output after grep (files are stored in /asd folder for example)

test.mp4
test2.mp4

So here's how it should be at the end:

arr_name[0] = test.mp4
arr_name[1] = test2.mp4

Here's my code so far:

arr_name=( $(cd ~/asd; ls -tr | grep -v total | head -2) )

Can you please help me to resolve the mistake?

Looks okay; how are you testing to see if it is working? echo ${arr_name[0]} etc... should work. — borrible
– borrible, Commented Jul 2, 2016 at 17:10
When i run the script it says Syntax error: "(" unexpected for the line where the array is — MNedelchev
– MNedelchev, Commented Jul 2, 2016 at 19:52
edit your question to include a minimal reproducible example. — Ed Morton
– Ed Morton, Commented Jul 2, 2016 at 21:38

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-02 17:10:00Z

5

You don't need grep here and avoid parsing output of ls by using -I option of ls.

# To list all files except *total*
ls -I '*total*' -tr

# to read all the listed entries in an array
mapfile -t  arr < <(ls -I '*total*' -tr)

# to get first 2 entries
echo "${arr[@]:0:2}"

# to store 2 entries in an array
parr=("${arr[@]:0:2}")

# check your results
declare -p parr

answered Jul 2, 2016 at 17:10

anubhava

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2 Comments

sjsam Over a year ago

Nice. Could you elaborate on how mapfile -t arr < <(ls -I '*total*' -tr) works here?

anubhava Over a year ago

I used mapfile to populate the array with output of ls command. Command substitution may also work as an Annemarie but will break if file names have spaces.

Jakob Guldberg Aaes · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-10 17:24:24Z

1

You can just set

IFS='
'

Then the lines will be saved correctly

answered Nov 10, 2019 at 17:24

Jakob Guldberg Aaes

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