How to Split String into Array in Shell Script

Sometimes you may need to split string into array in Linux. You can easily do this using shell script. In this article, we will look at how to split string into array in shell script.

How to Split String into Array in Shell Script

Here are the steps to create shell script to split strings.

1. Create Shell Script

Open terminal and run the following command to create empty shell script.

$ sudo vi /home/split.sh

2. Add Shell Script

Add the following lines to your shell script.

#!/bin/sh

string="Today is a beautiful day."

IFS=', ' read -r -a array <<< "$string"

echo 'printing elements'

for element in "${array[@]}"
do
    echo "$element"
done

Save and close the file. In the above file, we first define shell script execution environment. Then we use the following command to split string into an array

IFS=', ' read -r -a array <<< "$string"

In the above command, we parse the string stored in $string variable based on characters present in IFS (Input Field Separator). Please note, $IFS will treat each character present in as a separate delimiter. In our case, it will treat comma and space as different separators, and not the sequence of comma+space.

Then loop through the array and display individual elements one by one. You may also display individual elements as

echo "${array[0]}"
echo "${array[2]}"
...

If you want to display both index and value in each iteration of for loop, update it as shown.

for index in "${!array[@]}"
do
    echo "$index ${array[index]}"
done

3. Make Shell Script Executable

Run the following command to make your shell script executable.

$ sudo chmod +x /home/split.sh

4. Run Shell Script

You can run the shell script with the following command

$ sudo /home/split.sh
Today
is
a
beautiful
day.

That’s it. As you can see it is very easy to split string into array in shell script. We have also seen a couple of useful modifications that may be made to your script, as per your requirement.

How to Split String into Array in Shell Script