Creating an array from a text file in Bash

Question

A script takes a URL, parses it for the required fields, and redirects its output to be saved in a file, file.txt. The output is saved on a new line each time a fie

Answer 1

mapfile and readarray (which are synonymous) are available in Bash version 4 and above. If you have an older version of Bash, you can use a loop to read the file into an array:

arr=()
while IFS= read -r line; do
  arr+=("$line")
done < file

In case the file has an incomplete (missing newline) last line, you could use this alternative:

arr=()
while IFS= read -r line || [[ "$line" ]]; do
  arr+=("$line")
done < file

---

Related:

• Need alternative to readarray/mapfile for script on older version of Bash