ASSOCIATIVE ARRAY VARIABLE Accessed By INDEX using BASH in Ubuntu

Question

I'm using Ubuntu terminal installed over Window 10. I create ASSOCIATIVE ARRAY VARIABLE and access in using INDEX using BASH in Ubuntu.

### 84) Create an ARRAY VARIABLE Accessed By Value

    declare -A car
    car[BMW]=i8
    car[TOYOTA]=Corolla
    car[Honda]=Civic
    car[Mercedes]=Benz

    echo "${car[TOYOTA]}"

It should return 'Corolla'. But instead it returns: 'Benz'

Your code works correctly. Please run your code in a fresh terminal. — KamilCuk
– KamilCuk, Commented Nov 4, 2021 at 1:49

glenn jackman · Accepted Answer · 2021-11-03 20:58:39Z

2

declare -a creates a numerically indexed array.
declare -A creates an associative array.

Numerically indexed arrays place the index part of var[idx]=value into an arithmetic context. In an arithmetic context, variables can be used without the "parameter expansion syntax" (i.e. the $). Unset variables use the value zero.

So, what you're doing with

declare -a car # '-a' used to let this variable have assigned values below
car[BMW]=i8
car[TOYOTA]=Corolla
car[Honda]=Civic
car[Mercedes]=Benz

is assigning each value to the index zero of the array.

declare -p is a handy way to inspect a variable:

$ declare -p car
declare -a car=([0]="Benz")

with declare -A instead, we get:

$ declare -p car
declare -A car=([Honda]="Civic" [TOYOTA]="Corolla" [BMW]="i8" [Mercedes]="Benz" )

answered Nov 3, 2021 at 20:58

glenn jackman

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1 Comment

Data Engineer Over a year ago

Thanks @Glenn Jackman. Though I watched a video with the same code I posted above (except for '-A', which was a typo on my side.) So, the guy in the tutorial it returned 'Corolla'.

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