Bash How to Echo Array

Bash How to Echo Array

You can define three elements array (there is no space between the name of an array variable, equal symbol, and starting bracket):

FILES=(report.jpg status.txt scan.jpg)

This command will write each element in the array:

echo ${FILES[*]}

Index in shell arrays starts from 0. So, if you want to write just the first element, you can do this command:

echo ${FILES[0]}

Output: report.jpg

Do you want to process each element in the array in the loop? Here is an example:

for ELEMENT in ${FILES[@]}
do
echo File: $ELEMENT.
done

If you want to get only indexes of the array, try this example:

echo ${!FILES[@]}

“${!FILES[@]}” is a relatively new bash feature, it was not included in the original array implementation.