Arrays in unix shell?

Question

How do I create an array in unix shell scripting?

Answer 1

in bash, you create array like this

arr=(one two three)

to call the elements

$ echo "${arr[0]}"
one
$ echo "${arr[2]}"
three

to ask for user input, you can use read

read -p "Enter your choice: " choice

Answer 2

Try this :

echo "Find the Largest Number and Smallest Number of a given number"
echo "---------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "Enter the number"
read n

while [ $n -gt 0 ] #For Seperating digits and Stored into array "x"
do
        x[$i]=`expr $n % 10`
        n=`expr $n / 10`
done

echo "Array values ${x[@]}"  # For displaying array elements


len=${#x[*]}  # it returns the array length


for (( i=0; i<len; i++ ))    # For Sorting array elements using Bubble sort
do
    for (( j=i+1; j<len;  j++ ))
    do
        if [ `echo "${x[$i]} > ${x[$j]}"|bc` ]
        then
                t=${x[$i]}
                t=${x[$i]}
                x[$i]=${x[$j]}
                x[$j]=$t
        fi
        done
done


echo "Array values ${x[*]}"  # Displaying of Sorted Array


for (( i=len-1; i>=0; i-- ))  # Form largest number
do
   a=`echo $a \* 10 + ${x[$i]}|bc`
done

echo "Largest Number is : $a"

l=$a  #Largest number

s=0
while [ $a -gt 0 ]  # Reversing of number, We get Smallest number
do
        r=`expr $a % 10`
        s=`echo "$s * 10 + $r"|bc`
        a=`expr $a / 10`
done
echo "Smallest Number is : $s" #Smallest Number

echo "Difference between Largest number and Smallest number"
echo "=========================================="
Diff=`expr $l - $s`
echo "Result is : $Diff"


echo "If you try it, We can get it"

Answer 3

The following code creates and prints an array of strings in shell:

#!/bin/bash
array=("A" "B" "ElementC" "ElementE")
for element in "${array[@]}"
do
    echo "$element"
done

echo
echo "Number of elements: ${#array[@]}"
echo
echo "${array[@]}"

Result:

A
B
ElementC
ElementE

Number of elements: 4

A B ElementC ElementE

Answer 4

An array can be loaded in twoways.

set -A TEST_ARRAY alpha beta gamma

or

X=0 # Initialize counter to zero.

-- Load the array with the strings alpha, beta, and gamma

for ELEMENT in alpha gamma beta
do
    TEST_ARRAY[$X]=$ELEMENT
    ((X = X + 1))
done

Also, I think below information may help:

The shell supports one-dimensional arrays. The maximum number of array elements is 1,024. When an array is defined, it is automatically dimensioned to 1,024 elements. A one-dimensional array contains a sequence of array elements, which are like the boxcars connected together on a train track.

In case you want to access the array:

echo ${MY_ARRAY[2] # Show the third array element
 gamma 


echo ${MY_ARRAY[*] # Show all array elements
-   alpha beta gamma


echo ${MY_ARRAY[@] # Show all array elements
 -  alpha beta gamma


echo ${#MY_ARRAY[*]} # Show the total number of array elements
-   3


echo ${#MY_ARRAY[@]} # Show the total number of array elements
-   3

echo ${MY_ARRAY} # Show array element 0 (the first element)
-  alpha

Answer 5

To read the values from keybord and insert element into array

# enter 0 when exit the insert element
echo "Enter the numbers"
read n
while [ $n -ne 0 ]
do
    x[$i]=`expr $n`
    read n
    let i++
done

#display the all array elements
echo "Array values ${x[@]}"
echo "Array values ${x[*]}"

# To find the array length
length=${#x[*]}
echo $length

Answer 6

#!/bin/bash

# define a array, space to separate every item
foo=(foo1 foo2)

# access
echo "${foo[1]}"

# add or changes
foo[0]=bar
foo[2]=cat
foo[1000]=also_OK

You can read the ABS "Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide"