Cannot assign variable in for-loop in shell script

Question

I tried to assign variable a in for-loop:

#!/bin/bash

for file in `ls`
do
  a = $file
done

But when I run, it gave error:

line 5: a: command not found

Why did it give error? How to assign variable a?

Prefer $() over backticks and generally avoid parsing output of ls. Learn to use globbing a.k.a. filename expansion. — konsolebox
– konsolebox, Commented Dec 27, 2021 at 7:48
@reinardhz : This is not an assignment, but an invocation of the command named a, with = as first argument. Similarily, touch = would create a file named = and not create a variable named touch. — user1934428
– user1934428, Commented Dec 27, 2021 at 8:39

过过招 · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-27 07:33:56Z

1

There can be no spaces on both sides of the equal sign when defining variables in the Shell.

It should be:

a=$file

answered Dec 27, 2021 at 7:33

过过招

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Comments

Alexus · Accepted Answer · 2021-12-27 07:35:40Z

1

You need remove spaces i.e.

a = $file

must be

a=$file

answered Dec 27, 2021 at 7:35

Alexus

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