Read a config file in BASH without using “source”

Question

I\'m attempting to read a config file that is formatted as follows:

USER = username
TARGET = arrows

I realize that if I got rid of the spaces,

Answer 1

First, USER is a shell environment variable, so it might be better if you used something else. Using lowercase or mixed case variable names is a way to avoid name collisions.

#!/bin/bash
configfile="/path/to/file"
shopt -s extglob
while IFS='= ' read lhs rhs
do
    if [[ $lhs != *( )#* ]]
    then
        # you can test for variables to accept or other conditions here
        declare $lhs=$rhs
    fi
done < "$configfile"

This sets the vars in your file to the value associated with it.

echo "Username: $USER, Target: $TARGET"

would output

Username: username, Target: arrows

Another way to do this using keys and values is with an associative array:

Add this line before the while loop:

declare -A settings

Remove the declare line inside the while loop and replace it with:

    settings[$lhs]=$rhs

Then:

# set keys
user=USER
target=TARGET
# access values
echo "Username: ${settings[$user]}, Target: ${settings[$target]}"

would output

Username: username, Target: arrows