Question

How do I sort a “python dictionary-style” array e.g. ( "A: 2" "B: 3" "C: 1" ) in bash by the value? I think, this code snippet will make it bit more clear about my question.

State="Total 4 0 1 1 2 0 0"
W=$(echo $State | awk '{print $3}')
C=$(echo $State | awk '{print $4}')
U=$(echo $State | awk '{print $5}')
M=$(echo $State | awk '{print $6}')
WCUM=( "Owner: $W;" "Claimed: $C;" "Unclaimed: $U;" "Matched: $M" )
echo ${WCUM[@]}

This will simply print the array: Owner: 0; Claimed: 1; Unclaimed: 1; Matched: 2

How do I sort the array (or the output), eliminating any pair with “0” value, so that the result like this:

Matched: 2; Claimed: 1; Unclaimed: 1

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions. Cheers!!

Answer 1

Quick and dirty idea would be (this just sorts the output, not the array):

echo ${WCUM[@]} | sed -e 's/; /;\n/g' | awk -F: '!/ 0;?/ {print $0}' | sort -t: -k 2 -r | xargs