How to Print Array Elements in Bash

1. Use the echo Statement to Print Array Elements in Bash
2. Use the for Loop to Print Array Elements in Separate Lines in Bash
3. Use the history Keyword to Print Array Elements in Separate Lines in Bash
4. Use the basename Keyword to Print Array Elements in Separate Lines in Bash
5. Use the shuf Keyword to Print Array Elements in Separate Lines in Bash

When working with an array, you may need to see what data is stored in the array. In a Bash script, there are several methods that we can use to print the array elements.

This article will show how we can print the array elements in Bash scripting. We are going to discuss 5 different methods for this purpose.

Also, we will see necessary examples and explanations to make the topic easier.

Use the echo Statement to Print Array Elements in Bash

In this method, we will print all the elements of an array using the echo keyword. However, this keyword will print all the array elements in a single line.

You can follow the below example code for this purpose:

MyArray=('A' 'B' 'C' 'D' 'E')
echo "The array elements are: ${MyArray[@]}"

After executing the above Bash script, you will get an output like the below,

The array elements are: A B C D E

Use the for Loop to Print Array Elements in Separate Lines in Bash

In the below example, we will print the elements of an array using a loop. You can use any of the loops you prefer, but we will use the for loop in our example.

The code for our example is shown below:

MyArray=('A' 'B' 'C' 'D' 'E')

for item in "${MyArray[@]}"
do
  echo "$item"
done

In the example above, you can observe a part of the code that is ${MyArray[@]}. This is for taking all the elements of the array in a loop.

After executing the above Bash script, you will get an output like the one below:

A
B
C
D
E

Use the history Keyword to Print Array Elements in Separate Lines in Bash

Our next method will use the keyword history to print the elements of an array. But please note that this method may fail if any array element contains a !.

In the example below, we will use the history keyword for printing the array elements. The code for our example will look like the following:

MyArray=('A' 'B' 'C' 'D' 'E')
echo "The array elements are: "
history -p  "${MyArray[@]}"

After executing the above Bash script, you will get the output below:

The array elements are:
A
B
C
D
E

Use the basename Keyword to Print Array Elements in Separate Lines in Bash

We can also print all the elements of an array using the keyword basename. But please note that this method may fail if any array element contains a !.

In our example below, we will use the basename keyword for printing the array elements. The code for our example is given below:

MyArray=('A' 'B' 'C' 'D' 'E')
echo "The array elements are: "
basename -a "${MyArray[@]}"

After executing the above Bash script, you will get the below output:

The array elements are:
A
B
C
D
E

Use the shuf Keyword to Print Array Elements in Separate Lines in Bash

There is another built-in keyword in Bash that we can use for the same purpose of printing the array elements, which is shuf. But please note that this method may not provide the output in order.

In our example below, we will use the shuf keyword for printing the array elements. The code for our example will look like the following:

MyArray=('A' 'B' 'C' 'D' 'E')
echo "The array elements are: "
shuf -e "${MyArray[@]}"

After executing the above Bash script, you will get the following output:

The array elements are:
B
A
C
E
D

You can choose any one of the above methods based on your needs.

Please note that all the code used in this article is written in Bash. It will only work in the Linux Shell environment.