Remove an element from a Bash array

Question

I need to remove an element from an array in bash shell. Generally I'd simply do:

array=("${(@)array:#<element to remove>}")

Unfortunately the element I want to remove is a variable so I can't use the previous command. Down here an example:

array+=(pluto)
array+=(pippo)
delete=(pluto)
array( ${array[@]/$delete} ) -> but clearly doesn't work because of {}

Any idea?

Answer 1

Here's a one-line solution with mapfile:

$ mapfile -d $'\0' -t arr < <(printf '%s\0' "${arr[@]}" | grep -Pzv "<regexp>")

Example:

$ arr=("Adam" "Bob" "Claire"$'\n'"Smith" "David" "Eve" "Fred")

$ echo "Size: ${#arr[*]} Contents: ${arr[*]}"

Size: 6 Contents: Adam Bob Claire
Smith David Eve Fred

$ mapfile -d $'\0' -t arr < <(printf '%s\0' "${arr[@]}" | grep -Pzv "^Claire\nSmith$")

$ echo "Size: ${#arr[*]} Contents: ${arr[*]}"

Size: 5 Contents: Adam Bob David Eve Fred

This method allows for great flexibility by modifying/exchanging the grep command and doesn't leave any empty strings in the array.

Answer 2

Actually, I just noticed that the shell syntax somewhat has a behavior built-in that allows for easy reconstruction of the array when, as posed in the question, an item should be removed.

# let's set up an array of items to consume:
x=()
for (( i=0; i<10; i++ )); do
    x+=("$i")
done

# here, we consume that array:
while (( ${#x[@]} )); do
    i=$(( $RANDOM % ${#x[@]} ))
    echo "${x[i]} / ${x[@]}"
    x=("${x[@]:0:i}" "${x[@]:i+1}")
done

Notice how we constructed the array using bash's x+=() syntax?

You could actually add more than one item with that, the content of a whole other array at once.

Answer 3

You could build up a new array without the undesired element, then assign it back to the old array. This works in bash:

array=(pluto pippo)
new_array=()
for value in "${array[@]}"
do
    [[ $value != pluto ]] && new_array+=($value)
done
array=("${new_array[@]}")
unset new_array

This yields:

echo "${array[@]}"
pippo

Answer 4

This is the most direct way to unset a value if you know it's position.

$ array=(one two three)
$ echo ${#array[@]}
3
$ unset 'array[1]'
$ echo ${array[@]}
one three
$ echo ${#array[@]}
2

Answer 5

Partial answer only

To delete the first item in the array

unset 'array[0]'

To delete the last item in the array

unset 'array[-1]'

Answer 6

#/bin/bash

echo "# define array with six elements"
arr=(zero one two three 'four 4' five)

echo "# unset by index: 0"
unset -v 'arr[0]'
for i in ${!arr[*]}; do echo "arr[$i]=${arr[$i]}"; done

arr_delete_by_content() { # value to delete
        for i in ${!arr[*]}; do
                [ "${arr[$i]}" = "$1" ] && unset -v 'arr[$i]'
        done
        }

echo "# unset in global variable where value: three"
arr_delete_by_content three
for i in ${!arr[*]}; do echo "arr[$i]=${arr[$i]}"; done

echo "# rearrange indices"
arr=( "${arr[@]}" )
for i in ${!arr[*]}; do echo "arr[$i]=${arr[$i]}"; done

delete_value() { # value arrayelements..., returns array decl.
        local e val=$1; new=(); shift
        for e in "${@}"; do [ "$val" != "$e" ] && new+=("$e"); done
        declare -p new|sed 's,^[^=]*=,,'
        }

echo "# new array without value: two"
declare -a arr="$(delete_value two "${arr[@]}")"
for i in ${!arr[*]}; do echo "arr[$i]=${arr[$i]}"; done

delete_values() { # arraydecl values..., returns array decl. (keeps indices)
        declare -a arr="$1"; local i v; shift
        for v in "${@}"; do 
                for i in ${!arr[*]}; do
                        [ "$v" = "${arr[$i]}" ] && unset -v 'arr[$i]'
                done
        done
        declare -p arr|sed 's,^[^=]*=,,'
        }
echo "# new array without values: one five (keep indices)"
declare -a arr="$(delete_values "$(declare -p arr|sed 's,^[^=]*=,,')" one five)"
for i in ${!arr[*]}; do echo "arr[$i]=${arr[$i]}"; done

# new array without multiple values and rearranged indices is left to the reader