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One thing the article doesn't mention is how you can use indirect expansion to get a list of all keys. For example: `${!myvar[@]}` would list all of the keys. I've written about associative arrays in Bash a bit here: https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/associative-arrays-in-bash-ak...
Until it does, and major POSIX shs have shipped with it for a decade, then the feature will actually exist in a way that the average shell coder cares about. You're better off just shipping Rust/Go/etc binaries and leave sh for your simple glue tasks.
Even I've eventually switched to this, and I've written 10k+ long Bash scripts that followed best practices and passed shellcheck's more paranoid optional tests.
Use the right language for the right job.
It’s amazing how much of a superpower merely reading the manual is nowadays. https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bash.html#Arrays >
It’s amazing how much of a superpower merely reading the manual is nowadays. https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bash.html#Arrays >
Bash is low on the list of things to learn, especially as many greybeards suggest keeping on POSIX compatibility and/or using a "proper" language (Python, older: Perl) for anything longer than a few lines.
Not only do they exist, but they have some fantastic foot guns! https://mywiki.wooledge.org/BashPitfalls#A.5B.5B_-v_hash.5B....
It wouldn't be a worthy bash feature if after learning about it you wouldn't spend a few days figuring out why the damn thing doesn't work the way it works in any other language.
Nice that these exist—but does anyone else absolutely abhor shell programming? The syntax is impossible to memorize, it’s incredibly easy to make mistakes, and debugging is a pain. I hate it more than C++ and AppleScript.
Bash itself isn't a very big language, so I wouldn't call it "impossible to memorize".
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bash is low on the list of things to learn, especially as many greybeards suggest keeping on POSIX compatibility and/or using a "proper" language (Python, older: Perl) for anything longer than a few lines.
They suggest that based on their experience. Error handling in bash is awful so I advice against using it for anything complex.