SC2180.md

Pattern: Use of multidimensional array in Bash

Issue: -

Description

Bash does not support multidimensional arrays. Rewrite it to use 1D arrays. Associative arrays map arbitrary strings to values, and are therefore useful since you can construct keys like "1,2,3" or "val1;val2;val3" to index them.

Example of incorrect code:

foo[1][2]=bar
echo "${foo[1][2]}"

Example of correct code:

In bash4, consider using associative arrays:

declare -A foo
foo[1,2]=bar
echo "${foo[1,2]}"

Otherwise, do your own index arithmetic:

size=10
foo[1*size+2]=bar
echo "${foo[1*size+2]}"

Further Reading

• ShellCheck - SC2180