Bash positional parameters command line sorting issues

Question

Working on this assignment.

Write a Bash script, insert-sort.sh, which sorts a list of command line parameters in ascending order. For example, your command will look something like: $ insert-sort.sh 7 2 3 9 -1 and type enter. Your program will return: -1 2 3 7 9

This is what I have so far

array=();
for param in "$@"; do
    if [ -z "$array" ]; then
        array[0]="$param";     
    else
        array[param]="$param";
    fi
done
echo ${array[@]}

The problem when I try to test the script, I get inconsistent answer. Sorted when it is not supposed to.

For example, if I run '/././BASH/insert-sort.sh' 1 3 2 I get 1 2 3

if I run '/././BASH/insert-sort.sh' 4 2 3 I get 4 2 3

John Kugelman · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-22 00:05:45Z

1

The first parameter isn't being sorted correctly. You're always assigning it to index 0, regardless of its value. Every other $param goes into the param'th slot.

answered Sep 22, 2016 at 0:05

John Kugelman

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2 Comments

itproxti Over a year ago

Yes, I know. But 3 2 gets sorted to 2 3 in first and not in second attempt. Thanks for reply btw.

John1024 Over a year ago

"There is nothing in this script that sorts at all." With JohnKugelman's fix, yes, the code does sort. That is the way bash arrays work. (It won't work on negative numbers, though.)

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