Loop through an array of strings in Bash?

Question

I want to write a script that loops through 15 strings (array possibly?) Is that possible?

Something like:

for databaseName in listOfNames
then
  # D         


        

Answer 1

Implicit array for script or functions:

In addition to anubhava's correct answer: If basic syntax for loop is:

for var in "${arr[@]}" ;do ...$var... ;done

there is a special case in bash:

When running a script or a function, arguments passed at command lines will be assigned to $@ array variable, you can access by $1, $2, $3, and so on.

This can be populated (for test) by

set -- arg1 arg2 arg3 ...

A loop over this array could be written simply:

for item ;do
    echo "This is item: $item."
  done

Note that the reserved work in is not present and no array name too!

Sample:

set -- arg1 arg2 arg3 ...
for item ;do
    echo "This is item: $item."
  done
This is item: arg1.
This is item: arg2.
This is item: arg3.
This is item: ....

Note that this is same than

for item in "$@";do
    echo "This is item: $item."
  done

Then into a script:

#!/bin/bash

for item ;do
    printf "Doing something with '%s'.\n" "$item"
  done

Save this in a script myscript.sh, chmod +x myscript.sh, then

./myscript.sh arg1 arg2 arg3 ...
Doing something with 'arg1'.
Doing something with 'arg2'.
Doing something with 'arg3'.
Doing something with '...'.

Same in a function:

myfunc() { for item;do cat <<<"Working about '$item'."; done ; }

Then

myfunc item1 tiem2 time3
Working about 'item1'.
Working about 'tiem2'.
Working about 'time3'.