how to enumerate multiple arrays using same base name - arrays

I am trying to create multiple arrays holding random lists of file names referencing the number of elements in another array. How can I append a $cntr var (beginning with cntr=0) to the end of the new array names so they are directly referenced with elements in other array?
Wow I hope that reads somewhat sensible. Here is what I got going on so far that I hope helps make better sense of what I mean:
function fGenRanList() {
cntr=0
while [[ "$cntr" -lt "${#mTypeAr[#]}" ]] ; do
n="${nAr[$cntr]}" ; echo "\$n: $n"
tracks${cntr}=() ; echo "\$tracks${cntr}: $tracks${cntr}"
while ((n > 0)) && IFS= read -rd $'\0' ; do
tracks${cntr}+=("$REPLY")
((n--))
done < <(sort -zuR <(find "${dirAr[$cntr]}" -type f \( -name '*.mp3' -o -name '*.ogg' \) -print0))
((cntr++))
done
}
error I get is:
/home/user/bin/ranSong_multDirs.sh: line 95: syntax error near unexpected token `"$REPLY"'
/home/user/bin/ranSong_multDirs.sh: line 95: ` tracks${cntr}+=("$REPLY")'
But I first commentted out the echo statements from the tracks${cntr}=() array initialization to get rid of a similar error, but unsure whether or not track${cntr} gets initialized in the first place.
By the end I should end up with as many track(n) arrays as there are elements in ${#mTypeAr[#]}, using the numeric var stored in array ${nAr[$cntr]} to determine how many elements each track array will contain.
Maybe I am making things more difficult than need be, trying to implement arrays into older scripts I have both in order to make them a little more efficient, but I guess am driven primarily to get a better handle on using BASH arrays to store vars for similar but multiple processes which I seem to do often in my scripts.

Change this line, which is not valid bash syntax,
tracks${cntr}+=("$REPLY")
to
declare "tracks${cntr}+=($REPLY)"
Rather than having a syntactic assignment, the declare command takes a string that *look*s like an assignment as an argument; that argument is processed by the shell first, so if cntr is currently 3 and $REPLY is foo, the actual assignment performed is
tracks3+=(foo)
The declare command gives you a level of indirection in making parameter assignments.

Related

Set variable from item in array before the array is looped in a bash script

I am creating an array from the output of a command and then i am looping through the array and running commands that use each item in the array.
Before i loop through the array i want to create a variable that uses one of the values in my array. I will use this value when one of the items in the array contains a specific string.
I am not sure how to pick the value i need to set the variable from my array before i then loop through the array. I currently have this which is not working for me. I have also tried looping through to get my value but the value does not follow to the next loop, i dont think its being set and i cant keep the loop open as i am looping inside my loop.
readarray -t ARRAY < <( command that gets array of 5 hostnames )
if [[ $ARRAY[#] == *"FT-01"* ]]; then
FTP="$ARRAY"
fi
for server in "${ARRAY[#]}"; do
echo "Server: ${srv}"
echo "-------------------"
if [[ $server == *"ER-01"* ]]; then
echo " FTP server is ${FTP} and this is ${server}"
fi
done
I'm pretty sure the first if statement would never work but i am at a loss to how to pick out the the value i need from the array.
Sometimes difficulty expressing an idea is a sign that you're thinking like a C programmer rather than a shell scripter. Arrays and for loops aren't the most natural idioms in shell scripts. Consider streaming and pipes instead.
Let's say the command that gets hostnames is called list-of-hostnames. If it prints one host name per line you can filter the results with grep.
FTP=$(list-of-hostnames | grep FT-01)
If you really do want to work with an array you could use printf '%s\n' to turn it into a grep-able stream.
FTP=$(printf '%s\n' "${ARRAY[#]}" | grep FT-01)

How to use a variable to index ${array[*]} in bash?

First of all sorry because my english may be not good.
I want to use a variable to index an element in an array or use the same variable to index all the elements. For example:
...
var1="1"
var2="*"
array=(one two three for five)
for elem in ${array[$var1]}
do
echo $elem
done
When I use var1 to index in ${array[$var1]} it works correctly, but if I use var2 doesn't work correctly, I get this error:
./ed.sh line XXX *: syntax error: operand expected (error token is "*")
I'm pretty sure that the error is related with the * wildcard expansion, but I didn't find an answer that help me to solve this problem. So, how can I do it?
* and # are not considered regular elements in the array. They are not listed when iterating keys, and are not considered when expanding indirectly through index variables.
The bash source code has a function chk_atstar that checks whether [#] or [*] is being used, and you can see that it's done literally and not through any expansion:
else if (valid_array_reference (name, 0))
{
temp1 = mbschr (name, '[');
if (temp1 && temp1[1] == '#' && temp1[2] == ']')
{
If you really want to do this, you can go through variable indirection:
arr=(one two three)
index='*'
var="arr[$index]"
echo "${!var}"
though you may be better off not trying to treat these special array access modes as array elements.
I don't recommend this, but for completeness you can get this to work by cheating with the expansion order using eval:
eval items=\${array[$var2]}
for elem in $items
do
echo $elem
done
There are issues with this. eval is generally pronounced "evil" because there can be security implications in running code from a variable. There is usually a better way to do the job than using eval. In this case you should give some thought to the design.
There is also an issue if an element contains embedded whitespace. Add:
array+=('at the end')
After the array declaration and you'll see what I mean.
EDIT: After some deliberation, here is a way to do it without eval, and it supports embedded spaces or tabs (but not embedded newlines). Pretty it is not:
display_it() {
if [[ $1 = '*' ]]; then
oldIFS="$IFS"
IFS=$'\n'
echo "${array[*]}"
IFS="$oldIFS"
else
echo "${array[$1]}"
fi
}
var1="1"
var2="*"
array=(one two three for five)
array+=('at the end')
while read -r elem
do
echo $elem
done < <(display_it "$var2")
Displays:
one
two
three
for
five
at the end
At the end of the loop you will see process substitution where I call the function display_it. Each item read is separated by a newline, hence the swapping of the Internal Field Separator (IFS) in the function.

Bash - expanding variable nested in variable

Noble StackOverflow readers,
I have a comma seperated file, each line of which I am putting into an array.
Data looks as so...
25455410,GROU,AJAXa,GROU1435804437
25455410,AING,EXS3d,AING4746464646
25455413,TRAD,DLGl,TRAD7176202067
There are 103 lines and I am able to generate the 103 arrays without issue.
n=1; while read -r OrdLine; do
IFS=',' read -a OrdLineArr${n} <<< "$OrdLine"
let n++
done < $WkOrdsFile
HOWEVER, I can only access the arrays as so...
echo "${OrdLineArr3[0]} <---Gives 25455413
I cannot access it with the number 1-103 as a variable - for example the following doesn't work...
i=3
echo "${OrdLineArr${i}[0]}
That results in...
./script2.sh: line 24: ${OrdLineArr${i}[0]}: bad substitution
I think that the answer might involve 'eval' but I cannot seem to find a fitting example to borrow. If somebody can fix this then the above code makes for a very easy to handle 2d array replacement in bash!
Thanks so much for you help in advance!
Dan
You can use indirect expansion. For example, if $key is OrdLineArr4[7], then ${!key} (with an exclamation point) means ${OrdLineArr4[7]}. (See §3.5.3 "Shell Parameter Expansion" in the Bash Reference Manual, though admittedly that passage doesn't really explain how indirect expansion interacts with arrays.)
I'd recommend wrapping this in a function:
function OrdLineArr () {
local -i i="$1" # line number (1-103)
local -i j="$2" # field number (0-3)
local key="OrdLineArr$i[$j]"
echo "${!key}"
}
Then you can write:
echo "$(OrdLineArr 3 0)" # prints 25455413
i=3
echo "$(OrdLineArr $i 0)" # prints 25455413
This obviously isn't a total replacement for two-dimensional arrays, but it will accomplish what you need. Without using eval.
eval is usually a bad idea, but you can do it with:
eval echo "\${OrdLineArr$i[0]}"
I would store each line in an array, but split it on demand:
readarray OrdLineArr < $WkOrdsFile
...
OrdLine=${OrdLineArr[i]}
IFS=, read -a Ord <<< "$OrdLine"
However, bash isn't really equipped for data processing; it's designed to facilitate process and file management. You should consider using a different language.

How to read lines from a file into an array?

I'm trying to read in a file as an array of lines and then iterate over it with zsh. The code I've got works most of the time, except if the input file contains certain characters (such as brackets). Here's a snippet of it:
#!/bin/zsh
LIST=$(cat /path/to/some/file.txt)
SIZE=${${(f)LIST}[(I)${${(f)LIST}[-1]}]}
POS=${${(f)LIST}[(I)${${(f)LIST}[-1]}]}
while [[ $POS -le $SIZE ]] ; do
ITEM=${${(f)LIST}[$POS]}
# Do stuff
((POS=POS+1))
done
What would I need to change to make it work properly?
I know it's been a lot of time since the question was answered but I think it's worth posting a simpler answer (which doesn't require the zsh/mapfile external module):
#!/bin/zsh
for line in "${(#f)"$(</path/to/some/file.txt)"}"
{
// do something with each $line
}
#!/bin/zsh
zmodload zsh/mapfile
FNAME=/path/to/some/file.txt
FLINES=( "${(f)mapfile[$FNAME]}" )
LIST="${mapfile[$FNAME]}" # Not required unless stuff uses it
integer POS=1 # Not required unless stuff uses it
integer SIZE=$#FLINES # Number of lines, not required unless stuff uses it
for ITEM in $FLINES
# Do stuff
(( POS++ ))
done
You have some strange things in your code:
Why are you splitting LIST each time instead of making it an array variable? It is just a waste of CPU time.
Why don’t you use for ITEM in ${(f)LIST}?
There is a possibility to directly ask zsh about array length: $#ARRAY. No need in determining the index of the last occurrence of the last element.
POS gets the same value as SIZE in your code. Hence it will iterate only once.
Brackets are problems likely because of 3.: (I) is matching against a pattern. Do read documentation.
Let's say, for the purpose of example, that file.txt contains the following text:
one
two
three
The solution depends on whether or not you'd like to elide the empty lines in file.txt:
Creating an array lines from file file.txt, eliding empty lines:
typeset -a lines=("${(f)"$(<file.txt)"}")
print ${#lines}
Expected output:
3
Creating an array lines from file file.txt, without eliding empty lines:
typeset -a lines=("${(#f)"$(<file.txt)"}")
print ${#lines}
Expected output:
5
In the end, the difference in the resulting array is a result of whether or not the parameter expansion flag (#) is provided during brace expansion.
while read -r line;
do ARRAY+=("$line");
done < file.txt

Using a variable name to create an array bash, unix

First I should perhaps explain what I want to do...
I have 'n' amounts of files with 'n' amount of lines. All I know is
that the line count will be even.
The user selects the files that they want. This is saved into an
array called ${selected_sets[#]}.
The program will print to screen a randomly selected 'odd numbered'
line from a randomly selected file.
Once the line has been printed, I don't want it printed again...
Most of it is fine, but I am having trouble creating arrays based on the contents of ${selected_sets[#]}... I think I have got my syntax all wrong :)
for i in ${selected_sets[#]}
do
x=1
linecount=$(cat $desired_path/$i | wc -l) #get line count of every set
while [ $x -le $linecount ]
do ${i}[${#${i}[#]}]=$x
x=$(($x+2)) # only insert odd numbers up to max limit of linecount
done
done
The problem is ${i}[${#${i}[#]}]=$x
I know that I can use array[${#array[#]}]=$x but I don't know how to use a variable name.
Any ideas would be most welcome (I am really stumped)!!!
In general, this type is question is solved with eval. If you want a a variable named "foo" and have a variable bar="foo", you simply do:
eval $bar=5
Bash (or any sh) treats that as if you had typed
foo=5
So you may just need to write:
eval ${i}[\${#${i}[#]}]=$x
with suitable escapes. (A useful technique is to replace 'eval' with 'echo', run the script and examine the output and make sure it looks like what you want to be evaluated.)
You can create named variables using the declare command
declare -a name=${#${i}[#]}
I'm just not sure how you would then reference those variables, I don't have time to investigate that now.
Using an array:
declare -a myArray
for i in ${selected_sets[#]}
do
x=1
linecount=$(cat $desired_path/$i | wc -l) #get line count of every set
while [ $x -le $linecount ]
do
$myArray[${#${i}[#]}]=$x
let x=x+1 #This is a bit simpler!
done
done
Beware! I didn't test any of the above. HTH

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