Read file remove spaces and store in array

Question

I have a file with the following content:

list:

blue,none
red,none
orange,plot
   baseball   ,     none
university,none
school,none
desk,plot
monitor,none
earphone,none

I need to read this file, remove spaces and store each column in a different array.

script:

output_names=()
output_plots=()

while read line           
do
    item=$(echo -e "${line}" | tr -d '[[:space:]]')
    item=$(echo $item | tr "," "\n")
    output_names+=(${item[0]});
    output_plots+=(${item[1]});
done <list

echo "** output_names:";
for item in ${output_names[*]}
do
    echo $item
done

echo "** output_plots:";
for item in ${output_plots[*]}
do
    echo $item
done

However it does not work as I expect. What is wrong? and how to fix this code?

Note

If somebody has a solution to store the data in a single array with different keys output['names'][*] and output['plots'][*], that would be highly appreciated as I do not know how to do it.

Outputs:

** output_names:
blue
none
red
none
orange
plot
baseball
none
university
none
school
none
desk
plot
monitor
none
earphone
none
** output_plots:

output_names=( $(cut -d',' -f1 infile) ); output_plots=( $(cut -d',' -f2 infile) ); for item in ... do... — don_crissti
– don_crissti, Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 0:42
@ar2015; note that the (expensive) tr commands can be avoided since the shell is capable of doing deletions ${var//pattern} and substitutions ${var//pattern/repl}. — Janis
– Janis, Commented Mar 25, 2015 at 1:02

Janis · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-25 00:48:46Z

2

The problem with your code is the tr command and your (wrong) assumptions about item[0] and item[1].

There are of course various ways to handle that; here is one way (staying close to your approach):

while IFS=, read left right
do
    output_names+=( "${left// }" )
    output_plots+=( "${right// }" )
done <list

(I've only depicted the loop changes, the rest of your code can stay as is.)

answered Mar 25, 2015 at 0:48

Janis

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guido · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-25 00:42:57Z

0

This returns a string with spaces:

item=$(echo $item | tr "," "\n")

change it like this to have an array:

item=($(echo $item | tr "," "\n"))

output:

** output_names:
blue
red
orange
baseball
university
school
desk
monitor
earphone
** output_plots:
none
none
plot
none
none
none
plot
none
none

There may be better ways to achieve your task tough

answered Mar 25, 2015 at 0:42

guido

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