BASH: Returning an array output from a function

Question

I am currently working on bash script below which reads from an xml document and return the values city on holiday.

xmlconfig="/home/scripts/sample.xml"
dt=$(date +'%Y%m%d')

cty=$(get-holiday-country "$dt" "$xmlconfig")
echo "This are the cities:"
echo "$cty"

get-holiday-country()
{
        declare -a arr
        for q in `echo 'cat /holiday[@date="$1"]/country/@value' | xmllint --shell "$2" | awk -F\" '/=/ { print $2; }'`
        do arr+=("$q")
        done
}

However, I am getting a null value on the function I created and when running the for loop alone it is working.

for q in `echo 'cat /holiday[@date="$1"]/country/@value' | xmllint --shell "$2" | awk -F\" '/=/ { print $2; }'`; do echo "$q"; done

Can you help me find out what I did wrong?

declare when used in function make the variable local to them. Moreover you don't even try to read the arr array but a cty array that you do not use anywhere else. Move the declaration outside of the function to avoid using a local variable, and make sure to use the same variable everywhere — Aaron
– Aaron, Commented Dec 12, 2019 at 9:44
In bash 4+ you can declare -g within the function to make the array global. And as Aaron suggested, your sample seems to indicate that you aren't using the array you've declared. A function can pass data in three ways - with a numeric exit value, with stdout/stderr, or by populating a global variable. You're doing none of those. If you want $cty to have any content, echo or printf that content within the function. — ghoti
– ghoti, Commented Dec 12, 2019 at 9:55
You script calls the function before it was declared.: cty=$(get-holiday-country "$dt" "$xmlconfig") — dash-o
– dash-o, Commented Dec 12, 2019 at 14:14
Please share sample input file. Not easy to replicate problem without data. — dash-o
– dash-o, Commented Dec 12, 2019 at 14:14
I have solved my problem. I will post it in the answer. Thank you for your help guys. — jgpadilla04
– jgpadilla04, Commented Dec 13, 2019 at 7:41

jgpadilla04 · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-13 07:49:46Z

Sample XML file:

<holiday date="20191225">
    <country value="US">
        <day value="today">
            <job name="USJOB1"></job>
            <job name="USJOB2"></job>
            <job name="USJOB3"></job>
        </day>
    </country>
    <country value="PH">
        <day value="today">
            <job name="PHJOB1"></job>
            <job name="PHJOB2"></job>
            <job name="PHMJOB3"></job>
        </day>
    </country>
</holiday>

I have made changes from the comments I received and below is the final code.

get-holiday-country()
{
        arr=()
        for q in `echo "cat /holiday[@date="$1"]/country/@value" | xmllint --shell "$2" | awk -F\" '/=/ { print $2; }'`
        do
                arr+=("$q")
        done
        echo ${arr[*]}
}

xmlconfig="/home/scripts/sample.xml"
dt=$(date +'%Y%m%d')

cty=$(get-holiday-country "$dt" "$xmlconfig")
echo "These are the cities:"
echo "$cty"

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