How to slice an array in Bash

Question

Looking the "Array" section in the bash(1) man page, I didn't find a way to slice an array.

So I came up with this overly complicated function:

#!/bin/bash

# @brief: slice a bash array
# @arg1:  output-name
# @arg2:  input-name
# @args:  seq args
# ----------------------------------------------
function slice() {
   local output=$1
   local input=$2
   shift 2
   local indexes=$(seq $*)

   local -i i
   local tmp=$(for i in $indexes 
                 do echo "$(eval echo \"\${$input[$i]}\")" 
               done)

   local IFS=$'\n'
   eval $output="( \$tmp )"
}

Used like this:

$ A=( foo bar "a  b c" 42 )
$ slice B A 1 2
$ echo "${B[0]}"  # bar
$ echo "${B[1]}"  # a  b c

Is there a better way to do this?

score 443 · Accepted Answer · edited May 27 '21 at 14:14

443

See the Parameter Expansion section in the Bash man page. A[@] returns the contents of the array, :1:2 takes a slice of length 2, starting at index 1.

A=( foo bar "a  b c" 42 )
B=("${A[@]:1:2}")
C=("${A[@]:1}")       # slice to the end of the array
echo "${B[@]}"        # bar a  b c
echo "${B[1]}"        # a  b c
echo "${C[@]}"        # bar a  b c 42
echo "${C[@]: -2:2}"  # a  b c 42 # The space before the - is necesssary

Note that the fact that a b c is one array element (and that it contains an extra space) is preserved.

edited May 27 '21 at 14:14

Kirill Bulygin

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answered Aug 26 '09 at 17:10

Dennis Williamson

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any tip for indirection like get from the 2nd index on in `${!A[@]}`? – Aquarius Power Jul 09 '14 at 22:51
4

@AquariusPower: Create an array of indices and slice it: `idx=(${!A[@]}); echo ${idx[@]:1}`. – Dennis Williamson Jul 10 '14 at 14:20
4

Can this also be used for the array-like special variable `$@`? `${@[@]:1:2}` gives the error `bad substitution`. – Feuermurmel Oct 09 '15 at 15:51
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@Feuermurmel: Just do it without the indexing square brackets: `${@:1:2}` – Dennis Williamson Oct 09 '15 at 22:57
7

@DennisWilliamson I found that I needed to convert `$@` to a proper array before doing this or arguments that contained spaces would get split: `ARGS=( "$@" ); ARGS_AFTER_FIRST=( "${ARGS[@]:1}" )` – Heath Borders Jan 27 '16 at 21:15
Why we don't need to surround `A[@]` with `${}` as we do when we want to extract the content of the whole array? – Mehdi Charife Feb 22 '23 at 21:59
@MehdiCharife: The dollar sign and curly braces are there. They just also include the slice notation inside them. – Dennis Williamson Feb 23 '23 at 04:14
@DennisWilliamson Yes, but why there aren't curly braces that only surround `A[@]`? – Mehdi Charife Feb 23 '23 at 04:16
1

@MehdiCharife: One set of curly braces is sufficient. No other ones are needed for this. It's the way the notation is designed. If you add another set you'll get a "bad substitution" error. – Dennis Williamson Feb 23 '23 at 04:20

score 58 · Answer 2 · answered May 29 '13 at 20:42

58

There is also a convenient shortcut to get all elements of the array starting with specified index. For example "${A[@]:1}" would be the "tail" of the array, that is the array without its first element.

version=4.7.1
A=( ${version//\./ } )
echo "${A[@]}"    # 4 7 1
B=( "${A[@]:1}" )
echo "${B[@]}"    # 7 1

answered May 29 '13 at 20:42

Nicholas Sushkin

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And while you at it: `echo "${A[@]::1}" # 4` – Chen Levy Jun 03 '13 at 08:40
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This is great, but it should be noted that if used within a function, it must be altered slightly to read `"${${@}[@]:1}"`. – Alex Gray Nov 11 '15 at 00:15
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@AlexGray: That gives me "bad substitution" here, but `${@:2}` works fine. – Nick Matteo May 10 '19 at 05:43

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 21 '16 at 19:54

Array slicing like in Python (From the rebash library):

array_slice() {
    local __doc__='
    Returns a slice of an array (similar to Python).

    From the Python documentation:
    One way to remember how slices work is to think of the indices as pointing
    between elements, with the left edge of the first character numbered 0.
    Then the right edge of the last element of an array of length n has
    index n, for example:
    ```
    +---+---+---+---+---+---+
    | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
    +---+---+---+---+---+---+
    0   1   2   3   4   5   6
    -6  -5  -4  -3  -2  -1
    ```

    >>> local a=(0 1 2 3 4 5)
    >>> echo $(array.slice 1:-2 "${a[@]}")
    1 2 3
    >>> local a=(0 1 2 3 4 5)
    >>> echo $(array.slice 0:1 "${a[@]}")
    0
    >>> local a=(0 1 2 3 4 5)
    >>> [ -z "$(array.slice 1:1 "${a[@]}")" ] && echo empty
    empty
    >>> local a=(0 1 2 3 4 5)
    >>> [ -z "$(array.slice 2:1 "${a[@]}")" ] && echo empty
    empty
    >>> local a=(0 1 2 3 4 5)
    >>> [ -z "$(array.slice -2:-3 "${a[@]}")" ] && echo empty
    empty
    >>> [ -z "$(array.slice -2:-2 "${a[@]}")" ] && echo empty
    empty

    Slice indices have useful defaults; an omitted first index defaults to
    zero, an omitted second index defaults to the size of the string being
    sliced.
    >>> local a=(0 1 2 3 4 5)
    >>> # from the beginning to position 2 (excluded)
    >>> echo $(array.slice 0:2 "${a[@]}")
    >>> echo $(array.slice :2 "${a[@]}")
    0 1
    0 1

    >>> local a=(0 1 2 3 4 5)
    >>> # from position 3 (included) to the end
    >>> echo $(array.slice 3:"${#a[@]}" "${a[@]}")
    >>> echo $(array.slice 3: "${a[@]}")
    3 4 5
    3 4 5

    >>> local a=(0 1 2 3 4 5)
    >>> # from the second-last (included) to the end
    >>> echo $(array.slice -2:"${#a[@]}" "${a[@]}")
    >>> echo $(array.slice -2: "${a[@]}")
    4 5
    4 5

    >>> local a=(0 1 2 3 4 5)
    >>> echo $(array.slice -4:-2 "${a[@]}")
    2 3

    If no range is given, it works like normal array indices.
    >>> local a=(0 1 2 3 4 5)
    >>> echo $(array.slice -1 "${a[@]}")
    5
    >>> local a=(0 1 2 3 4 5)
    >>> echo $(array.slice -2 "${a[@]}")
    4
    >>> local a=(0 1 2 3 4 5)
    >>> echo $(array.slice 0 "${a[@]}")
    0
    >>> local a=(0 1 2 3 4 5)
    >>> echo $(array.slice 1 "${a[@]}")
    1
    >>> local a=(0 1 2 3 4 5)
    >>> array.slice 6 "${a[@]}"; echo $?
    1
    >>> local a=(0 1 2 3 4 5)
    >>> array.slice -7 "${a[@]}"; echo $?
    1
    '
    local start end array_length length
    if [[ $1 == *:* ]]; then
        IFS=":"; read -r start end <<<"$1"
        shift
        array_length="$#"
        # defaults
        [ -z "$end" ] && end=$array_length
        [ -z "$start" ] && start=0
        (( start < 0 )) && let "start=(( array_length + start ))"
        (( end < 0 )) && let "end=(( array_length + end ))"
    else
        start="$1"
        shift
        array_length="$#"
        (( start < 0 )) && let "start=(( array_length + start ))"
        let "end=(( start + 1 ))"
    fi
    let "length=(( end - start ))"
    (( start < 0 )) && return 1
    # check bounds
    (( length < 0 )) && return 1
    (( start < 0 )) && return 1
    (( start >= array_length )) && return 1
    # parameters start with $1, so add 1 to $start
    let "start=(( start + 1 ))"
    echo "${@: $start:$length}"
}
alias array.slice="array_slice"

yuyu5 · Answer 4 · 2021-07-18T19:29:49.360

At the risk of beating a dead horse, I was inspired by @jandob's answer and made this version that

Is simpler (doesn't have so much shift logic or rewriting of variables as often).
Respects quoted strings without dealing with IFS (-r mode only).
Allows the user to specify [start, end) slicing or [start, length] slicing via -l flag.
Allows you to echo the resulting array (default behavior), or "return" it into a new array for use in the calling parent (via -r slicedArray).

Note: namerefs are only supported in Bash >= 4.3. To support earlier versions of Bash (i.e. Mac without Brew's bash), you'll need to use indirection instead: use a temp var to access array parameters, e.g. declare arrValuesCmd="$1[@]"; declare arr=("${!arrValuesCmd}"), and use eval for return values, e.g. eval $retArrName='("${newArr[@]}")' (note the single quotes around the array declaration).

array.slice() {
    # array.slice [-l] [-r returnArrayName] myArray 3 5
    # Default functionality is to use second number as end index for slice (exclusive).
    # Can instead use second number as length by passing `-l` flag.
    # `echo` doesn't maintain quoted entries, so pass in `-r returnArrayName` to keep them.
    declare isLength
    declare retArrName
    declare OPTIND=1

    while getopts "lr:" opt; do
        case "$opt" in
            l)
                # If `end` is slice length instead of end index
                isLength=true
                ;;
            r)
                retArrName="$OPTARG"
                ;;
        esac
    done

    shift $(( OPTIND - 1 ))

    declare -n arr="$1"
    declare start="$2"
    declare end="$3"
    declare arrLength="${#arr[@]}"

    declare newArr=()
    declare newArrLength

    # Bash native slicing:
    #   Positive index values: ${array:start:length}
    #   Negative index values: ${array: start: length}
    # To use negative values, a space is required between `:` and the variable
    #   because `${var:-3}` actually represents a default value,
    #   e.g. `myVar=${otherVal:-7}` represents (pseudo-code) `myVar=otherVal || myVar=7`
    if [[ -z "$end" ]]; then
        # If no end is specified (regardless of `-l`/length or index), default to the rest of the array
        newArrLength="$arrLength"
    elif [[ -n "$isLength" ]]; then
        # If specifying length instead of end-index, use native bash array slicing
        newArrLength="$(( end ))"
    else
        # If specifying end-index, use custom slicing based on a range of [start, end):
        newArrLength="$(( end - start ))"
    fi

    newArr=("${arr[@]: start: newArrLength}")

    if [[ -n "$retArrName" ]]; then
        declare -n retArr="$retArrName"
        retArr=("${newArr[@]}")
    else
        echo "${newArr[@]}"
    fi
}

Examples:

myArray=(x y 'a b c' z 5 14)   # length=6

array.slice myArray 2 4
# > a b c z


array.slice -l myArray 3 2
# > z 5



# Note: Output was manually quoted to show the result more clearly.
# Actual stdout content won't contain those quotes, which is
#   why the `-r returnArray` option was added.

array.slice -r slicedArray myArray -5 -3   # equivalent of [2, 4)
# > (null)
echo -e "myArray (length=${#myArray[@]}): ${myArray[@]} \nslicedArray (length=${#slicedArray[@]}): ${slicedArray[@]}"
# > myArray (length=6): x y 'a b c' z 5 14 
# > slicedArray (length=2): 'a b c' z


array.slice -lr slicedArray myArray -5 3   # length instead of index, equivalent of [2, 5)
# > (null)
echo -e "myArray (length=${#myArray[@]}): ${myArray[@]} \nslicedArray (length=${#slicedArray[@]}): ${slicedArray[@]}"
# > myArray (length=6): x y 'a b c' z 5 14 
# > slicedArray (length=3): 'a b c' z 5

How to slice an array in Bash

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