Arrays

An array can hold several values under one name. Array naming is the same as variables naming. An array is initialized by assign space-delimited values enclosed in ()

my_array=(apple banana "Fruit Basket" orange)
new_array[2]=apricot

Array members need not be consecutive or contiguous. Some members of the array can be left uninitialized.

The total number of elements in the array is referenced by ${#arrayname[@]}

my_array=(apple banana "Fruit Basket" orange)
echo  ${#my_array[@]}                   # 4

The array elements can be accessed with their numeric index. The index of the first element is 0.

my_array=(apple banana "Fruit Basket" orange)
echo ${my_array[3]}                     # orange - note that curly brackets are needed
# adding another array element
my_array[4]="carrot"                    # value assignment without a $ and curly brackets
echo ${#my_array[@]}                    # 5
echo ${my_array[${#my_array[@]}-1]}     # carrot

Exercise

In this exercise, you will need to add numbers and strings to the correct arrays. You must add the numbers 1,2, and 3 to the "numbers" array, and the words 'hello' and 'world' to the strings array.

You will also have to correct the values of the variable NumberOfNames and the variable second_name. NumberOfNames should hold the total number of names in the NAMES array, using the $# special variable. Variable second_name should hold the second name in the NAMES array, using the brackets operator [ ]. Note that the index is zero-based, so if you want to access the second item in the list, its index will be 1.