Capture multiline output as array in bash [duplicate]

Question

If inner.sh is

#... echo first echo second echo third 

And outer.sh is

var=`./inner.sh` # only wants to use "first"...   

How can var be split by whitespace?

Answer 1

Try this:

var=($(./inner.sh))  # And then test the array with:  echo ${var[0]} echo ${var[1]} echo ${var[2]} 

Output:

first second third 

Explanation:

• You can make an array in bash by doing var=(first second third), for example.
• $(./inner.sh) runs the inner.sh script, which prints out first, second, and third on separate lines. Since we don't didn't put double quotes around $(...), they get lumped onto the same line, but separated by spaces, so you end up with what it looks like in the previous bullet point.