Dynamic variable names in Bash

Question

I am confused about a bash script.

I have the following code:

function grep_search() {
    magic_way_to_define_magic_variable_$1=`ls | tail -1`
    e         


        

Answer 1

As per BashFAQ/006, you can use read with here string syntax for assigning indirect variables:

function grep_search() {
  read "$1" <<<$(ls | tail -1);
}

Usage:

$ grep_search open_box
$ echo $open_box
stack-overflow.txt

Answer 2

Even though it's an old question, I still had some hard time with fetching dynamic variables names, while avoiding the eval (evil) command.

Solved it with declare -n which creates a reference to a dynamic value, this is especially useful in CI/CD processes, where the required secret names of the CI/CD service are not known until runtime. Here's how:

# Bash v4.3+
# -----------------------------------------------------------
# Secerts in CI/CD service, injected as environment variables
# AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID_DEV, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY_DEV
# AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID_STG, AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY_STG
# -----------------------------------------------------------
# Environment variables injected by CI/CD service
# BRANCH_NAME="DEV"
# -----------------------------------------------------------
declare -n _AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID_REF=AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID_${BRANCH_NAME}
declare -n _AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY_REF=AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY_${BRANCH_NAME}

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=${_AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID_REF}
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=${_AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY_REF}

echo $AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID $AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
aws s3 ls