Re: -v no longer works for associative arrays

[Greg Wooledge]

On Thu, Oct 13, 2022 at 02:35:55PM -0400, Chet Ramey wrote:
> On 10/13/22 12:47 PM, Bryan Roessler wrote:
> > For indexed arrays, yes. I hadn't made the connection with associative
> > arrays since I don't typically index them with numbers, thanks.
> 
> There has to be some default, and "0" is at least consistent with indexed
> arrays.

I actually would have preferred an error message.  Something like
"bash: test: missing array index" would have been clear enough for me.

The current behavior is absolutely mystifying for most people.

I'm not actually requesting a change.  I recognize that it's far too
late for that.  Hmm...

If at some point you choose to add a shopt that turns on extra warnings,
I'd love it if *this* could be included in said warnings.  The use of an
array variable with no index, having index "0" be chosen for you, is
worthy of a warning, in such a hypothetical mode.