Question

Here is a simplified version of my problem.

if (echo "AA BB CC" | awk '{ print $1 $2 }' | grep -q "B"); then
   echo $2
fi

I would like to make $2 available in bash, so I can use it elsewhere in the script.

Can that be done?

Update

I realized that I had simplified the problem too much. The awk expression should have been awk '{ print $1 $2 }' instead of just awk '{ print $2 }' which I originally posted.

Answer 1

You can use set:

set -- `echo "AA BB CC" | awk '{print $2}'`
case $1 in *B*) echo $1;; esac

… or if you used the awk just to split the output, let set do that part as well:

set -- `echo "AA BB CC"`
case $2 in *B*) echo $2;; esac