Bash string transformation

Question

Could you please help me get from

inputs='["some string", "BBB", "CCC", "something else"]'

to

inputs=( "some string" "BBB" "CCC" "something else" )

using some bash code?

Thank you.

Later Edit: The result should be a bash array. as per solutions provided by @james and @Francois, they create just a string.

Any ideas? Thanks again.

The solutions given will badly break in many cases. Are you actually trying to parse json? — gniourf_gniourf
– gniourf_gniourf, Commented Oct 2, 2016 at 13:05
not a json... the string inputs='["some string", "BBB", "CCC", "something else"]' comes as a result from a ruby code and what I need is to transform that string into a bash array. — gbaii
– gbaii, Commented Oct 2, 2016 at 13:07
can't you modify the ruby script so that it outputs the array in a more parsable format? (e.g., one string per line) — gniourf_gniourf
– gniourf_gniourf, Commented Oct 2, 2016 at 13:11

Andreas Louv · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-02 14:35:13Z

2

Assuming you have a variable called inputs that contains ["some string", "BBB", "CCC", "something else"], then you can use jq and mapfile:

$ mapfile -t inputs < <(jq -r '.[]' <<< "$inputs")
$ printf '<%s>' "${inputs[@]}"
<some string><BBB><CCC><something else>

answered Oct 2, 2016 at 14:35

Andreas Louv

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2 Comments

Andreas Louv Over a year ago

that line was just to show that spaces is respected. After running the first command (mapfile) an array called inputs will exists.

gbaii Over a year ago

I'm stupid and you're right. Thank you very much. Is there any other way to do that without jq?

James Brown · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-02 10:35:54Z

1

$ sed "s/\[/( /; s/]/ )/; s/[',]//g" foo
inputs=( "some string" "BBB" "CCC" "something else" )

First replace \[ with (, ] with ) and then ' and , with nuthin'.

answered Oct 2, 2016 at 10:35

James Brown

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gbaii Over a year ago

The problem is now solved, but there's another. The resulted string is not an array anymore. If I try to make it an array with: IFS=' ' read -r -a array <<< "$inputs" I get as a result more elements as each space declares a new element. Any ideeas?

Jean-François Fabre · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-02 11:55:44Z

1

Simple substitution using sed

inputs=$(echo $inputs | sed -e "s/\[/( /" -e "s/\]/ )/" -e "s/,//g")

(last expression deletes the commas, overlooked it in the first attempt)

edited Oct 2, 2016 at 11:55

answered Oct 2, 2016 at 10:36

Jean-François Fabre♦

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3 Comments

gbaii Over a year ago

I got it. Thank you guys! Jean-Francois, I'll use your solution. I really appreciate!

Sundeep Over a year ago

@GabrielEnache this doesn't delete the commas though... is that okay or do you mean you were able to modify the solution to your needs?

Jean-François Fabre Over a year ago

@Sundeep: added a last expression: overlooked it (as the OP did :)). Thx.

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