Bash unable to assign value

Question

Got a bit of a problem. I'm new to bash and I'm trying my hardest, but I can't figure out how to assign the desired output to the variable. Running this command in the prompt

wc -l data.txt | awk '{ print $1 }'

yields the result 12, which is desired. However if I put it in the test.sh file, it won't work. I've tried different quotations, but all I've managed to get is the entire line as a string...

Test.sh

#! /bin/bash

# Count lines for data.txt files
data1=wc -l data.txt | awk '{ print $1 }'

echo "Lines in data.txt: $data1"

exit

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 22 '21 at 21:19

1

I think you want:

data1="$(wc -l data.txt | awk '{ print $1 }')"

The $() syntax causes bash to execute that expression and replace it with the results.

Actually, powershell does allow you to do a straight = assignment like you did...

answered Feb 22 '21 at 21:19

xdhmoore

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1

Thanks! This did just what I wanted! I'll look further into $() too see how to use it! – Wahlmat Feb 22 '21 at 21:26
1

It's called "command substitution" on the `man bash` page. – xdhmoore Feb 22 '21 at 21:55

Bash unable to assign value

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