how to export bash arrays? any workaround tips?

tux_tina

I am using the bash version 4.2.37 at ubuntu 12.10. But since ubuntu 12.04 I am unable to export arrays in bash... This is an example (type these lines in the command line, it is not a script): export astr=(a "b c" d) declare -p |grep astr bash echo ${astr[@]} declare -p |grep astr echo outputs nothing... declare -p |grep astr outputs nothing either... What I am looking for is an workaround, because as far I know that is considered an known bash...

Originally asked by Aquarius Power on Stack Exchange (askubuntu) (CC BY-SA 3.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

It's not a bug with bash, there's just not any safe way to put a bash array in the environment. As for workarounds, that depends on what you're trying to achieve with exporting arrays in the first place. One possible workaround, for some cases, is to dump the array to a file and source that file where you need it. astr=(a "b c" d) declare -p astr > some_file bash -c 'source ./some_file; printf "%s\n" "${astr[1]}"' Another workaround could be to pass the array on as arguments to the next shell. astr=(a "b c" d) bash -c 'astr=("$@"); printf "%s\n" "${astr[1]}"' _ "${astr[@]}"

Full answer by geirha: https://askubuntu.stackexchange.com/a/295689 (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Need it done for your business? UphillTech.