Bash array and loop won't work together

Question

I am pretty new in bash script and can't figure out why this piece of code doesn't work (yes I've googled around).

Here's my code:

if [ $usertype = normal ]
then
    commands[0]="hi" ; descriptions[0]="get greeted"
    commands[1]="test" ; descriptions[1] = "test"
elif [ $usertype = hacker ]
    commands[0]="hi" ; descriptions[0]="get greeted"
    commands[1]="test" ; descriptions[1] = "test"
fi

alias fhelp='
for ((i=0; i<=${commands[@]}; i++))
do
    printf '%s %s\n' "${commands[i]}" "${descriptions[i]}"
done'

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

What does "doesn't work" mean? What did you expect to happen, and what actually happened? — Adam Liss
– Adam Liss, Commented May 13, 2013 at 1:56
@AdamLiss The terminal says there's a "syntax error near unexpected token `fi' "... — Aslet
– Aslet, Commented May 13, 2013 at 2:00
printf '%s %s\n' "${commands[i]}" "${descriptions[i]}" can be replaced using echo "${commands[i]} ${descriptions[i]}" -- much cleaner and better. — Bill
– Bill, Commented May 13, 2013 at 2:09
@Bill The thing is I need the two arrays to be printed side by side. Do you know how to do that? — Aslet
– Aslet, Commented May 13, 2013 at 2:16
What you have looks correct to me, given both arrays are of equal length. I recommend to use echo instead of printf. Pls see cyberciti.biz/faq/finding-bash-shell-array-length-elements — Bill
– Bill, Commented May 13, 2013 at 2:19

Yang · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-13 02:14:54Z

1

You can't use single quotes inside single quotes. Do this, it treats "'" as a string of a single quote and concatenate them.

alias fhelp='
for ((i=0; i<=${commands[@]}; i++))
do
  printf '"'"'%s %s\n'"'"' "${commands[i]}" "${descriptions[i]}"
done'

And use ${#commands[@]} to get the array length.

edited May 13, 2013 at 2:14

answered May 13, 2013 at 1:56

Yang

8,2289 gold badges51 silver badges67 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

Zombo · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-13 01:57:38Z

1

elif [ $usertype = hacker ]
# missing then!
commands[0]="hi" ; descriptions[0]="get greeted"

answered May 13, 2013 at 1:57

Zombo

1

4 Comments

Aslet Over a year ago

Now it says "-bash: PROMPT_COMMAND: line 2: syntax error: unexpected end of file" But yeah I can't believe I forgot the "then"

Bill Over a year ago

You should put all variables in quotes.

Bill Over a year ago

it is good to use elif [ "$usertype" = hacker ] instead of elif [ $usertype = hacker ]

Bill Over a year ago

also hacker should be "hacker" and same for normal

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Bash array and loop won't work together

2 Answers 2

Comments

4 Comments

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

Comments

4 Comments

Related