Bash script: array elements containing space character

Question

I'm getting started with bash scripting. I'm working with array elements that contain space characters. In the code below, the third array element is "Accessory Engine". I tried to set the space character using the \ symbol, but this doesn't help.

In the larger routine (not included here), I use the array elements to automatize some stuff with command line tools. Those command line tools would accept "Accessory Engine" as an input.

#!/bin/bash
components="Persistence Instrument Accessory\Engine"
for i in $components; do
  echo ${i}
done

Now the output from this code is:

  Persistence
  Instrument
  Accessory\Engine

But I want it to be:

  Persistence
  Instrument
  Accessory Engine

How can I achieve that?

Solution

Arrays are defined differently:

components=(Persistence Instrument "Accessory Engine")

or

components=(Persistence Instrument Accessory\ Engine)

And accessed differently:

for i in "${components[@]}"

Comments

[user3611406]

thanks for the input, I've tried both, but I still get the same issue: #!/bin/bash components=(one two three\ four) for i in ${components[@]}; do echo $i; done

[user3611406]

thanks, the last comment fixed it. why do I have to include the " characters in the for loop?

[PM 2Ring]

@lomppi: Quotes are used to prevent unwanted word splitting. See mywiki.wooledge.org/BashGuide/Practices#Quoting