Bash 4.0 Introduces Associative Arrays
The GNU Project's Bourne Again Shell (bash) is now in its fourth major version, which provides numerous enhancements.
For one thing, bash now recognizes associative arrays. The newly introduced "**" wildcard recursively matches all libraries and files, although it requires activation of the "globstar" shell option. The new "&>>" redirection operator appends the standard output and standard error to a file.
Programmable completion code also includes some feature enhancements. The developers fixed a few related bugs on the bash 3 branch and improved other POSIX compatibility issues. The full list of new features and enhancements are here, with more details on the bash manpage.
Version compatibility details are here, especially related to the older versions 1.14 and 2.0, especially as to the use of shell options.
Bash 4.0 is under GLPv3 licensing and is available at GNU mirrors as source tarballs for download. Along with bash, a new version 6.0 of the GNU Readline library is also available.
Comments
comments powered by DisqusSubscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.
-
Debian 13.0 Officially Released
After two years of development, the latest iteration of Debian is now available with plenty of under-the-hood improvements.
-
Upcoming Changes for MXLinux
MXLinux 25 has plenty in store to please all types of users.
-
A New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle, a Linux AI assistant, works with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.
-
EU Sovereign Tech Fund Gains Traction
OpenForum Europe recently released a report regarding a sovereign tech fund with backing from several significant entities.
-
FreeBSD Promises a Full Desktop Installer
FreeBSD has lacked an option to include a full desktop environment during installation.
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.
bash associative array... solution!
function idx { eval 'case $1 in '${cases[*]}' *) [ "$1" ] && { cases=( ${cases[*]} '\''"'\''$1'\''"
idx all
0
idx all
0
idx jhon
1
idx all
0
as you can see the function return different values for different strings
so associative array becomes quite simple like a simple array
array[`idx name`]=value
echo ${array[`idx name`]}
value
what do you think?