Combine Bash associative arrays

Question

I am trying make a script that combines arrays on demand. Here is the script:

#! /bin/bash
declare -A code
code=( [H]="h" [E]="e" [L]="l" [P]="p" [M]="m" [E]="e" )

I need to print "help me" - without quotes and in one line - when I enter ./filename.bash "HELP ME" at command prompt. here is what I am using.

code=$1;
for (( i = 0; i < ${#code[@]} ; i  = $i + 1 ));
do;
echo ${code[@]:$i:1};
done

Answer 1

Try this with script.sh "HELP ME":

#!/bin/bash

input=$1;
declare -A code
code=( [H]="h" [E]="e" [L]="l" [P]="p" [M]="m" [E]="e" )

for ((i=0; i<${#input}; i++))
do
  if [[ "${input:$i:1}" = " " ]]; then     # whitespace?
    echo -n " "
  else
    echo -n "${code[${input:$i:1}]}"
  fi
done

Output:

help me