How to accommodate for spaces in a bash array

Question

I am looping though a directory for a certain command; however, I do not know how to accommodate for spaces

#!/bin/bash

image=(`ls *.bmp *.jpeg *.jpg | sort`)
data=(`ls *.dat | sort`)

for ((i=0; i < ${#image[@]}; i++))
do
  echo ${image[$i]} ${data[$i]}
done

I ran this script and it returned

OIS032_OS.bmp Disc
OIS034_OS.bmp Cube
OIS035_OD.bmp 200x200_9-30-2010_OD
OIS035_OS.bmp _ILM_RNFLOb.dat
OIS036_OD.bmp OIS007_Optic
OIS036_OS.bmp Disc

I wanted the program to return this line

OIS016_OD.bmp  OIS016_Optic Disc Cube 200x200_OS _ILM_RNFLOb.dat

How do I fix bash array to store what I need

data=(`ls *.dat | sort`)

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 07 '12 at 18:32

6

Don't call ls; just use pattern matching to populate the array:

shopt -s extglob    # We'll use a more complicated glob to avoid needing to sort
image=( *.@(bmp|jpeg|jpg) )
data=( *.dat )

for ((i=0; i < ${#image[@]}; i++))
do
  echo ${image[$i]} ${data[$i]}
done

answered Sep 07 '12 at 18:32

chepner

497,756
71
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Thank You for your answer. I feeling little off today-added this line because stack overflow mininum character comment – user1462442 Sep 07 '12 at 18:44
2

Without requiring extglob, you can use [brace expansion](http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bashref.html#Brace-Expansion): `image=( *.{bmp,jpeg,jpg} )` – glenn jackman Sep 08 '12 at 00:44
1

Compare `a=(*.{bmp,jpeg,jpg})` and `b=(*.@(bmp|jpeg|jpg))` for the three files `a.bmp`, `a.jpeg`, and `z.jpeg`. I used the extended pattern to mimic the sorting shown in the original question, while the brace expansion would result in 3 separate patterns that would undergo filename expansion separately. – chepner Sep 08 '12 at 05:06
Thank you guys. I for explaining the complexities of bash. I will always use it to help write my scripts. I am wondering why I am saying thank you twice – user1462442 Sep 21 '12 at 18:57

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

1

I believe but am not certain you can do what you want with readarray and MAPFILE.

I asked something similar like this: Bash declaratively defining a list to loop on

Here another similar answer link: https://stackoverflow.com/a/7220619/318174

edited May 23 '17 at 12:14

Community

1
1

answered Sep 07 '12 at 18:26

Adam Gent

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How to accommodate for spaces in a bash array

2 Answers2