Shell Programming and Scripting

Hi rovf...

Don was VERY accurate when quoting what the OP's variables are to be like.

Here is another example and there are so, so many more after experimentation that UNLESS the OP can guarantee that his variables will only be alpha-numeric without any other '=' inside any of his basic variables then this could well be a daunting task. Who is to say that this cannot occur:

Code:

Last login: Sat Dec 23 16:12:07 on ttys000
AMIGA:amiga~> echo 'localhost subscriptions='["production", "masters", "fileserver", "cldb", "nfs"]' handler="genie"
> host1.localhost.com a=apple
> host2.localhost.com b=ball c=[ x+y=z ]' > /tmp/test
AMIGA:amiga~> 
AMIGA:amiga~> cat /tmp/test
localhost subscriptions=[production, masters, fileserver, cldb, nfs] handler="genie"
host1.localhost.com a=apple
host2.localhost.com b=ball c=[ x+y=z ]
AMIGA:amiga~> 
AMIGA:amiga~> grep -Eo '[[:alpha:]]+=([[:alpha:]]+|"[^"]*"'"|'[^']+')" /tmp/test
handler="genie"
a=apple
b=ball
y=z
AMIGA:amiga~>  # Now WHERE is 'c'?
AMIGA:amiga~> _

Note: c=[ x+y=z ] ...
Where is 'c'? 'y' has suddenly appeared AS a variable. Who is to say that what I have done will not occur?
Don has given what the OP appeared to want exactly, but, and a big but, I have pointed out several pitfalls, not in Don's code but as a backup to it.
Don needs a much better description of what the OP considers a 'variable' AND I totally agree with him!