Remove all elements from associative array Bash

Question

I need to remove all of the keys and values from an associative array in Bash. GNU bash, version 4.4.20(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu). I cannot just unset it, because I need to do this inside a function. If I unset it, and then declare it again, it will only be local to the function.

arrayFunction()
{
    # Start the array Clearer
    unset workingArray
    declare -A workingArray
    # End the array Clearer

    workingArray[test]="bar"
    echo "Inside the function: ${workingArray[test]}"
}

declare -A workingArray

workingArray[test]="foo"

echo "Before the function: ${workingArray[test]}"

arrayFunction

echo "After the function: ${workingArray[test]}"

Output:

Before the function: foo
Inside the function: bar
After the function:

That last line of the output should be bar.

What I am looking for is some code to put inside the function that will empty the array ENTIRELY, while keeping the array global.

Answer 1

Well it's not really complex, just use -g.

Inside your function:

declare -gA workingArray

and this will happen gloabally.