Bash array append - removes existing elements

Asked Dec 13 '21 at 04:49

Active Dec 13 '21 at 04:49

Viewed 21 times

I tried:

$ a=("-f" "apple" "c")
$ a+=("-e" "banana" "d")
$ echo "${a[@]}"
-f apple c -e banana d

$ a=("-e" "apple" "c")
$ a+=("-e" "banana" "d")
$ echo "${a[@]}"
apple c -e banana d

Can someone explain why the second output is not -e apple c -e banana d (why is -e missing)?

asked Dec 13 '21 at 04:49

Porcupine

what do you get with `a+=("-f" "apple" "c")`? – jsotola Dec 13 '21 at 05:02
`$ a=("-f" "apple" "c");` `$ a+=("-f" "apple" "c");` `$ echo "${a[@]}";` `-f apple c -f apple c` – Porcupine Dec 13 '21 at 05:05
For a definitive view of the genuine contents of a Bash variable, use the built-in command `declare -p a`. – Paul_Pedant Dec 13 '21 at 09:31

0 Answers0