Associative arrays are local by default

Question

Associative arrays seem to be local by default when declared inside a function body, where they should be global. The following code

#!/bin/bash

f() {
    declare -A map
    map[x]=a
    map[y]=b
}

f
echo x: ${map[x]} y: ${map[y]}

produces the output:

x:  y:

while this

#!/bin/bash

declare -A map

f() {
    map[x]=a
    map[y]=b
}

f
echo x: ${map[x]} y: ${map[y]}

produces the output:

x: a y: b

---

Is it possible to declare a global associative array within a function? Or what work-around can be used?

Answer 1

From: Greg Wooledge
Sent: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 06:53:27 -0700
Subject: Re: YAQAGV (Yet Another Question About Global Variables)

bash 4.2 adds "declare -g" to create global variables from within a function.

Thank you Greg! However Debian Squeeze still has Bash 4.1.5

Answer 2

You have already answered your own question with declare -g. The workaround on bash versions < 4.2 is to declare the array outside of the function.

f() {
   map[y] = foo
}

declare -A map
foo
echo "${map[y]}"

Answer 3

For those who are stuck with Bash version < 4.2 and are not comfortable with proposed workarounds I share my custom implementation of global associative arrays. It does not have the full power of bash associative arrays and you need to be careful about special characters in array index, but gets job done.

get_array(){
   local arr_name="$1"
   local arr_key="$2"

   arr_namekey_var="ASSOCARRAY__${arr_name}__${arr_key}"
   echo "${!arr_namekey_var:=}"
}

set_array(){
   local arr_name="$1"
   local arr_key="$2"
   local arr_value="$3"

   arr_namekey_var="ASSOCARRAY__${arr_name}__${arr_key}"
   if [[ -z "${arr_value}" ]]; then
      eval ${arr_namekey_var}=
   else
      printf -v "${arr_namekey_var}" "${arr_value}"
   fi
}

Few notes:

• Array name and array key could be combined into a single value, but split proved convenient in practice.
• __ as a separator can by hacked by malicious or careless use -- to be on the safe side use only single-underscore values in array name and key, on top of only using alphanumeric values. Of course the composition of the internal variable (separators, prefix, suffix...) can be adjusted to application and developer needs.
• The default value expansion guarantees that undefined array key (and also array name!) will expand to null string.
• Once you move to version of bash where you are comfortable with builtin associative arrays, these two procedures can be used as wrappers for actual associative arrays without having to refactor whole code base.

Answer 4

Fine, 4.2 adds "declare -g" but it's buggy for associative arrays so it doesn't (yet) answer the question. Here's my bug report and Chet's confirmation that there's a fix scheduled for the next release.

http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bash/2013-09/msg00025.html

But I've serendipitously found a workaround, instead of declaring the array and assigning an initial value to it at the same time, first declare the array and then do the assignment. That is, don't do this:

declare -gA a=([x]=1 [y]=2)

but this instead:

declare -gA a; a=([x]=1 [y]=2)