CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bashscripting
user2494770
user2494770

Reputation:

Why is bash only appending first element to array

I'm trying to read a list of files from stdin, with each file delimited by a newline, however I'm noticing that only the first element is getting appended to the list. I noticed this by simply entering two strings and then q. Can anyone explain why?

files=()
read input

while [ "$input" != "q" ] ; 
do
    files+=( "$input" )
    read input
done

for f  in $files ; 
do
    echo "the list of files is:"
    echo "$f"
    echo "The length of files is ${#files} " #prints 1, even if 2+ are entered
done

Upvotes: 8

Views: 4704

Answers (1)

anubhava
anubhava

Reputation: 785406

Actually your files+=( "$input" ) expression is adding elements to your array but you are not iterating it correctly.

Your last loop should be:

for f in "${files[@]}"; do
    echo "element is: $f"
done

Test (thanks to @fedorqui)

$ a+=(1)
$ a+=("hello")
$ a+=(3)
$ for i in "${a[@]}"; do echo "$i"; done
1
hello
3

Upvotes: 10

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