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Assign variables to CSV string (bash)

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# 1  
Old 07-14-2014
Assign variables to CSV string (bash)
Hi guys,

New to the forum, and been messing around with Linux for about a year now. I'm still very much a rookie, so just assume that I'm a total idiot:

I currently have a shell that spits out a CSV number string of about 8 numbers as follows:
Code:
1.00,2.00,3.00 ... ,8.00

I need to assign a unique variable to each of these numbers. (I think that's the right parlance.) So if I were to do this line by line, I would have the following:
Code:
V1=1.00
V2=2.00
V3=3.00
etc

With results that, if I were to use for example "echo", it would look like:
Code:
# echo $V1
#1.00

Is there a way in bash to assign a $V(x) variable to the CSV string numbers?

The long story here is I'm trying to get a an open-source payroll program (written in python) to output the various payroll numbers in CSV format, assign each of those numbers a variable, and have those variables piped into a text file which my accounting program can read via its built-in keystroke progamming language. So far I have the python program spitting out the right numbers, I just can't get the variables to be assigned to the CSV string in the correct fashion.

Thanks for all your patience - Hansol
Last edited by hansol; 07-14-2014 at 05:26 PM..
# 2  
Old 07-14-2014
For something like this, it is much easier to use an array rather than trying to evaluate a variable number of variables. This works with both ksh and bash:
Code:
#!/bin/bash
CSVstring="1.00,2.00,3.00,4.00,5.00,6.00,7.00,8.00"
IFS=',' V=($CSVstring)
echo "Elements in array V: ${#V[@]}"
for((i = 0; i < ${#V[@]}; i++))
do	printf "v[%d]=%s\n" $i "${V[i]}"
done

and produces the output:
Code:
Elements in array V: 8
v[0]=1.00
v[1]=2.00
v[2]=3.00
v[3]=4.00
v[4]=5.00
v[5]=6.00
v[6]=7.00
v[7]=8.00

# 3  
Old 07-14-2014
Longhand using OSX 10.7.5, default bash terminal.
Code:
#!/bin/bash
# var_X.sh
> /tmp/var.array
ifs_str="$IFS"
IFS=","
n=0
echo '1.00,2.00,3.00,4.00,5.00,6.00,7.00,8.00' >> /tmp/var.array
var=`cat < /tmp/var.array`
echo "$var"
echo ""
var_array=($var)
while [ $n -lt ${#var_array[@]} ]
do
	echo "var$n=${var_array[$n]}"
	eval "var$n=\"${var_array[$n]}\""
	n=$((n+1))
done
echo ""
echo "$var0"
echo "$var1"
echo "$var2"
echo "$var3"
echo "$var4"
echo "$var5"
echo "$var6"
echo "$var7"
IFS="$ifs_str"
exit 0

Results:-
Code:
Last login: Mon Jul 14 22:30:15 on ttys000
AMIGA:barrywalker~> ./var_x.sh
1.00,2.00,3.00,4.00,5.00,6.00,7.00,8.00

var0=1.00
var1=2.00
var2=3.00
var3=4.00
var4=5.00
var5=6.00
var6=7.00
var7=8.00

1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
AMIGA:barrywalker~> _

Important note:-
eval is a very powerful and dangerous command; be aware!
Code:
AMIGA:barrywalker~> help eval
eval: eval [arg ...]
    Read ARGs as input to the shell and execute the resulting command(s).
AMIGA:barrywalker~> _

EDIT:
15th July 2014, 13:11pm local UK time; now tested on CygWin...
Last edited by wisecracker; 07-15-2014 at 09:12 AM.. Reason: See above...
# 4  
Old 07-15-2014
Don and Wisecracker,

Thank you for the replies. I've since trialed the code you provided, and I certainly get a string that shows as an output:
Code:
V(x) = [some number]

"
The issue though is that the output doesn't seem to assign a variable to the respective items. For instance, when I ran my latest code, I got the following result:
Code:
v0=900.00
v1=36.00
v2=39.11
v3=39.11
v4=17.60
v5=24.64
v6=0.00
v7=169.12

However, if in the same script, I try to run
Code:
echo $v7

I would expect to get the resulting output of "169.12" to appear. Instead I get nothing.

I apologize in advance, as I am quite sure that I am the problem here, and that my lack of knowledge is what's getting in the way. Thank you for your patience so far -Hansol
# 5  
Old 07-15-2014
Wisecracker and I showed you very different ways to do things. We both showed you working code. Show us the code you're using and we may be able to help you.

Just saying that our code doesn't work when we both showed you output demonstrating that our code does work doesn't give us much to be able to help you.
# 6  
Old 07-15-2014
Don,

My apologies for the vague response, as that wasn't my intent. Here is my code as of current:
Code:
#To create CSV string
NVPR=$(~/location/of/shell/to/output/CSV/string)

#To convert CSV to two decimals 
LL=$(printf "%0.2f",$NVPR) 

#To generate array of V(x) numbers from LL 
CSVstring="$LL"
IFS=',' V=($CSVstring)
#echo "Elements in array V: ${#V[@]}"
for((i = 0; i < ${#V[@]}; i++))
do    printf "v%d=%s\n" $i "${V[i]}"
done

If I add for example a simple
Code:
...(above code string)...
done

echo $v7

to see what number the $v7variable generates, unfortunately nothing comes up
So that's what I'm working with currently. Hopefully that sheds a bit more light on the issue.
Last edited by hansol; 07-15-2014 at 02:45 AM..
# 7  
Old 07-15-2014
Did you look at the description of handling arrays on the bash(1) man page on your system? I had hoped that showing how the array elements were printed in the for loop would have helped.

With a shell array like this, elements in the array have subscripts 0 through (n - 1) where n is the number of elements in the array. To get the value of the element of the array with subscript i, use ${array_name[i]}. The number of elements in the array is ${#array_name[@]}. So to print the 8th element of the array, use:
Code:
echo ${V[7]}

not:
Code:
echo $v7

But, you have an earlier problem. The:
Code:
#To convert CSV to two decimals 
LL=$(printf "%0.2f",$NVPR)

in your script does not convert a CSV string into a CSV string with elements between commas converted to floating point values to two decimal places. It will only convert an initial string of digits (possibly including a single decimal point) into a single floating point value rounded to two digits after the decimal point. So, when you get to the command:
Code:
IFS=',' V=($CSVstring)

there is only one floating point value in $CSVstring and there aren't any commas in the expansion of that variable. So, V will be an array containing only one element.
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