Using a variable name to create an array bash, unix - arrays

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

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)

Saving in arrays and comparing an argument to an array in bash

I do not know why this code stopped working
I tested it a couple of times and it was running great
what I am trying to do hear is place first and second in 2 different arrays
and then comparing argument $2 ==> $comment to the array varA and if it is in the array i do not want to store it in the text file $file
comment=$2
dueD=$3
x=0
hasData()
{
declare -a varA varB
cat $file | while IFS=$'\t' read -r num first second;do
varA+=("$first")
varB+=("$second")
done
if [[ ${varA[#]} == ~$comment ]]; then
echo "already in the Todo list"
else
x=$(cat $file | wc -l)
x=$(($x+1))
echo -e "$x\t$comment\t$dueD" >> $file
fi
I think I am storing the values wrong in the array because when I try
echo ${varA[#]}
nothing gets printed
more over I think my if statement is not accurate enough since this is the 4th time I edit it and it works but after a while it no longer works
need assistance kindly
Your pipeline creates a sub-shell. Therefore your assignments to varA and varB happen in the sub-shell and are lost as soon as the sub-shell exits. See How can I read a file (data stream, variable) line-by-line (and/or field-by-field)? for how to do this without a sub-shell. – Etan Reisner
Look at the solutions there. See how they don't use a pipe? That's the solution: Don't use a pipe. Use one of the other input redirection options. – Etan Reisner

Bash, variables and arrays

I crawled through lots of boards but didn't find the final solution for my problem.
I have got an array, named "array0", the name is stored to a variable called arrayname. Also I've got a logged IP address, let's say 127.0.0.1, also stored in a variable, called ip.
Now I want to assign the IP to index 3 in the array like that:
"$arrayname"[3]="$ip"
So, this didn't work. I tried lots of ways how to solve that but none worked.
Is anyone out there who can tell me the final solution for this case?
Update: The given opportunities to handle the problem are great! But I forgot to mention that the array I'm working with is just sourced from another file (also written in bash). My goal is now to edit the array in the sourced file itself. Any more ideas for that?
Try
read ${arrayname}[3] <<<"$ip"
You'll need to use the declare command and indirect parameter expansion, but it's a little tricky to use with array names. It helps if you think of the index as part of the variable name, instead of an operator applied to the array name, like in most languages.
array0=(1 2 3 4 5)
arrayname=array0
name=$arrayname[3]
declare "$name=$ip"
echo "${!name}
And yet another way to do it, this time using the versatile printf.
printf -v "$arrayname[3]" %s "$ip"
demo
#!/bin/bash
array0=(a b c d e)
echo "${array0[#]}"
arrayname='array0'
ip='127.0.0.1'
printf -v "$arrayname[3]" %s "$ip"
echo "${array0[#]}"
output
a b c d e
a b c 127.0.0.1 e
See this:
# declare -a arrayname=(element1 element2 element3)
# echo ${arrayname[0]}
element1
# arrayname[4]="Yellow"
# echo ${arrayname[4]}
Yellow
# export ip="192.168.190.23"
# arrayname[5]=$ip
# echo ${arrayname[5]}
192.168.190.23
You don't have to use quotes.
After initializing the arrays, you can access the array elements using their indices as follows.
Access as:
${arrayname[3]}

how to enumerate multiple arrays using same base name

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.

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

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