Getting error while assigning value to a variable in Unix shell script

Question

Trying to assign value to a variable as follows

n=2
i='hello'
A$n='$i'

But getting error as "A2=hello: command not found

My aim is to assign 'hello' to A2 variable(by substituting $n as 2 in A$n)

With regards to your last line: single quoting will stop interpolation, meaning that A$n will be set to $i not the value of i. — jschuebel
– jschuebel, Commented Nov 7, 2022 at 14:53
After removing single quotes also getting same error. Tried like this A$n=$i — Harish H B
– Harish H B, Commented Nov 7, 2022 at 14:59
A$n='$i' simply is not a valid assignment statement, syntactically. Assignments are recognized by the parser before any parameter expansion occurs, and the portion before the = must be a valid identifier, which A$n is not. — chepner
– chepner, Commented Nov 7, 2022 at 15:02

jschuebel · Accepted Answer · 2022-11-08 15:45:14Z

1

You can use declare to achive this:

n=2
i='hello'
# as glenn mentioned it's safer to quote the declaration
# because the variables could possibly contain spaces 
declare "A$n=$i"

answered Nov 7, 2022 at 14:55

jschuebel

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1 Comment

Safer to write declare "A$n=$i", particularly if the values aren't known.