Split string into array using multi-character delimiter

Question

I need to split a string into an array. My problem is that the delimiter is a 3 character one: _-_

For example:

db2-111_-_oracle12cR1RAC_-_mariadb101

I need to create the following array:

db2-111
oracle12cR1RAC
mariadb101

Similar questions followed this approach:

str="db2-111_-_oracle12cR1RAC_-_mariadb101"
arr=(${str//_-_/ })
echo ${arr[@]}

Even if the array is created, it has been split incorrectly:

db2 
111 
oracle12cR1RAC 
mariadb101

It seems that the "-" character in the first item causes the array's split function to fail.

Can you suggest a fix for it? Thanks.

Answer 1

If you can, replace the _-_ sequences with another single character that you can use for field splitting. For example,

$ str="db2-111_-_oracle12cR1RAC_-_mariadb101"
$ str2=${str//_-_/#}
$ IFS="#" read -ra arr <<< "$str2"
$ printf '%s\n' "${arr[@]}"
db2-111
oracle12cR1RAC
mariadb101

Answer 2

You could use sed to do what you want, i.e. writting something like that :

str="db2-111_-_oracle12cR1RAC_-_mariadb101"
arr=($(sed 's/_-_/ /g' <<< $str))
echo ${arr[0]}

Edit :

The reason arr=(${str//_-_/ }) didn't work is that when you write it like that, everything inside ${ ... } is considered as 1 element of the array. So, using sed, or even simply arr=($(echo ${str//_-_/ })) will produce the result you expect.