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07.13.2004 at 08:34AM PDT, ID: 21057113
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bash: how to split a string, assign tokens to an array

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7.8
Zone:

Linux Programming

Tags:

bash, split, string
I am having difficulty splitting a colon-delimited string and assigning the
tokens to an array in a bash shell script.  I want to assign the passwd fields
returned by `id -P username` to an array.

Given that
      `id -P cyrus`
returns
      cyrus:*:77:6::0:0:Cyrus User:/var/imap:/usr/bin/false

I wish to assign the fields to an array, say pw, such that
pw[0] = cyrus
pw[1] = *
pw[2] = 77
 ...
pw[8] = Cyrus User
pw[9] = /var/imap
... etc

I already discovered that ' set -f ' avoids the '*' from getting filename-expanded.
I tried using awk to split the colon-delimited string, but the GECOS field can contain spaces,
resulting in its value getting further split during the array assignment:
   ...
pw[8] = Cyrus
pw[9] = User
   ....

I have a feeling that there is a simple solution, but I haven't found it yet.

Equally acceptable would be a 'read'- style assignment to multiple variables.
Something like
IFS=':'
read f_uname f_pass f_uid f_gid ...

But read takes intput from stdin.
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Answered By: rjkimble
Expert Since: 10/03/2003
Accepted Solutions: 222
rjkimble has been an Expert for 5 years 3 months, during which he has posted 901 comments and answered 222 questions. rjkimble is just one of 413 experts in the Linux Programming Zone. 5 experts collaborated on this answer, which was graded an "A" by the asker.
 
 
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