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linuxarraysbashshell

Bash script to convert a string with space delimited tokens to an array

I have a string

echo $STRING

which gives

first second third fourth fifth

basically a list separated spaces.

how do i take that string and make it an array so that

array[0] = first
array[1] = second

etc..

I have tried

IFS=' ' read -a list <<< $STRING

but then when i do an 

echo ${list[@]}

it only prints out "first" and nothing else

Solution

  • It's simple actually:

    list=( $STRING )

    Or more verbosely:

    declare -a list=( $STRING )

    PS: You can't export IFS and use the new value in the same command. You have to declare it first, then use its effects in the following command:

    $ list=( first second third )
$ IFS=":" echo "${list[*]}"
first second third
$ IFS=":" ; echo "${list[*]}"
first:second:third

    Notice that the last example will change IFS to ":" until you change it again, or the shell exits. Usually you want to use a subshell, or save the original value of IFS so you can restore it afterwards.