Bash how to parse asscoiative array from argument?

Question

I am trying to read a string into an associative array.

The string is being properly escaped and read into .sh file:

./myScript.sh "[\"el1\"]=\"val1\" [\"el2\"]=\"val2\""

within the script

#!/bin/bash -e
declare -A myArr=( "${1}" ) #it doesn't work either with or without quotes

All I get is:

line 2: myArr: "${1}": must use subscript when assigning associative array

Googling the error only results in "your array is not properly formatted" results.

Answer 1

solution:

./test.sh "( [\"el1\"]=\"val1\" [\"el2\"]=\"val2\" )"

and within the script:

#!/bin/bash -e

declare -A myArr="${1}"
declare -p myArr

for i in "${!myArr[@]}"
do
  echo "key  : $i"
  echo "value: ${myArr[$i]}"
done

Returns:

> ./test.sh "( [\"el1\"]=\"val1\" [\"el2\"]=\"val2\" )"
declare -A myArr=([el2]="val2" [el1]="val1" )
key  : el2
value: val2
key  : el1
value: val1

I can't explain why this works, or why the order changes though.

Test it yourself here