Looping over pairs of values in bash

Question

I have 10 text files and I want to paste each file with its pair, such that I have 5 total files.

I tried the following:

for i in 4_1 5_         


        

Answer 1

You can use an associative array:

animals=(dog cat mouse)
declare -A size=(
  [dog]=big
  [cat]=medium
  [mouse]=small
)
declare -A sound=(
  [dog]=barks
  [cat]=purrs
  [mouse]=cheeps
)
for animal in "${animals[@]}"; do
  echo "$animal is ${size[$animal]} and it ${sound[$animal]}"
done

This allows you traversing pairs, triples, etc. Credits: the original idea is taken from @CharlesDuffy-s answer.