Question

Associative arrays seem to be local by default when declared inside a function body, where they should be global. The following code

#!/bin/bash

f() {
    declare -A map
    map[x]=a
    map[y]=b
}

f
echo x: ${map[x]} y: ${map[y]}

produces the output:

x:  y:

while this

#!/bin/bash

declare -A map

f() {
    map[x]=a
    map[y]=b
}

f
echo x: ${map[x]} y: ${map[y]}

produces the output:

x: a y: b

---

Is it possible to declare a global associative array within a function?
Or what work-around can be used?

Answer 1

From: Greg Wooledge
Sent: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 06:53:27 -0700
Subject: Re: YAQAGV (Yet Another Question About Global Variables)

bash 4.2 adds “declare -g” to create global variables from within a
function.

Thank you Greg! However Debian Squeeze still has Bash 4.1.5