How do you split a string into an array

Question

This seems like it should be stupid easy but I can't seem to get it to work! I have a string I want to divide into an array based on new lines.

This below is basically what I'm trying to do.

echo $devices
serial1 device
serial2 device

arr=$(magic_function $devices)
echo ${arr[0]}
serial1 device
echo ${arr[1]}
serial2 device

jordanm · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-16 19:50:40Z

3

The IFS (internal field separator) determines how words are split in bash. Unquoted expansions are always split. By default, this is \t, \n, and ' '. You can set it to just \n to have your words split on a newline only.

IFS=$'\n' arr=( $(yourfunc "$devices") )

Another option on newer versions of bash (4.0+), is the mapfile command.

mapfile -t arr < <(yourfunc "$devices")

answered Mar 16, 2013 at 19:50

jordanm

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2 Comments

Nathan Schwermann Over a year ago

should be an easier way for sure, but it works. Also I called unset IFS when I was done so it wouldn't change for other programs.

chepner Over a year ago

Note that IFS is usually set by default, so unsetting it is different than restoring it to its old value.

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