Re: Changing the way bash expands associative array subscripts

[Chet Ramey]

On 4/6/21 12:46 PM, Koichi Murase wrote:

> How about the cases with `test -v a[@]' and `key=@; test -v a[$key]'?

By the time test sees its arguments, there is no difference between these
two cases. You can do things to differentiate when running the `[['
command, but `test' goes through the entire set of word expansions.

> I remember there was some discussion in the bug-bash list on the
> behavior of `test -v a[@]' which actually tests whether the array `a'
> has at least one element. It cannot be replaced by `test -v a' because
> `a' implies `a[0]' here. But if I correctly understand it, `test -v
> a[@]' can be replaced by `((${#a[@]}))'. Should any scripts relying on
> `test -v a[@]' to test the array elements also be changed?

I'm ok with making the old behavior contingent on a compatibility setting,
like with `unset'.

--
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
                 ``Ars longa, vita brevis'' - Hippocrates
Chet Ramey, UTech, CWRU    chet@case.edu    http://tiswww.cwru.edu/~chet/