assign declared array variable

Question

(bash noobie here)

In bash I am successful creating an array with database tables and then looping through them. I want to declare this array at the top of my script and then assign it later to another variable.

my_databases=(value1 value2 value3)

Looping through this works fine with for i in "${my_databases[@]}"

The problem is here: Instead of looping through my_databases I have a step in between and I want to assign the array to a variable new_array.

new_array=$my_databases

Now when I loop through this new_array, the script fails after the first array value. How can I assign a declared array to a new variable correctly?

Answer 1

To create a new array variable, assign the values of the old array to the new array like this:

my_databases=(value1 value2 value3)
new_array=("${my_databases[@]}")

If you use

new_array=$my_databases

the new variable will not be an array (unless you use declare -a new_array=$my_databases) and $my_databases only expands to the first value of the array.

Answer 2

I assume you want to create a copy of the array. Then use @Freddy's answer.

If you want to create a reference to the same data, recent versions of bash have "namerefs":

$ my_databases=(value1 value2 value3)
$ declare -n new_array=my_databases

Then:

$ for i in "${!new_array[@]}"; do printf "%d\t%s\n" $i "${new_array[i]}"; done
0   value1
1   value2
2   value3

but if you alter the first array, the changes are seen in the "new" one:

$ my_databases[2]="updated value 3"
$ for i in "${!new_array[@]}"; do printf "%d\t%s\n" $i "${new_array[i]}"; done
0   value1
1   value2
2   updated value 3