read -a not working as expected in Bash

For some reason when using “read -a” my script is only taking the first element of the line into the array. For example, when inputting a string such as “canada China”, the output of the program simply reads:

canada
c
Canada changed to uppercase.

Instead of:

canada China
c
Canada Changed to uppercase.
C
China Already uppercase.

The instructions for my assignment are as follows:

Create a script that reads the user’s input and stores it in an Array. Then, loop over the Array and :

• If the first character is lowercase, change it to be uppercase and write next to it “Changed to uppercase”.
• If the first letter is already uppercase, output the input word then write next to it “Already uppercase”.
• If the first character is not a letter, output the input word then write next to it “Doesn’t Start with a letter”. Use an Associative Array to do the conversion from lowercase to uppercase [converterArray=([a]=A [b]=B …)]

And here is my code:

#!/bin/bash

declare -A converterArray
converterArray=([a]=A [b]=B [c]=C [d]=D [e]=E [f]=F [g]=G [h]=H [i]=I [j]=J [k]=K [l]=L [m]=M [n]=N [o]=O [p]=P [q]=Q [r]=R [s]=S [t]=T [u]=U [v]=V [w]=W [x]=X [y]=Y [z]=Z)

read -p "Enter elements separated by space, return to end: " -a inputArray

lowercasemsg=" Changed to uppercase."
uppercasemsg=" Already uppercase."
notlettermsg=" Doesn't start with a letter."

echo $inputArray

for word in $inputArray; do
    firstchar=${word:0:1}
    echo $firstchar

    case $firstchar in 
    [a-z]*)
        word = ${converterArray[$firstchar]}${word:1}
        echo $word$lowercasemsg
        ;;
    [A-Z]*)
        echo $word$uppercasemsg
        ;;
    *)
        echo $word$notlettermsg
        ;;
    esac

done

EDIT: Thanks to John’s help the problem has been solved. I also fixed an issue with checking the case of the letter ([a-z] vs. [[:lower:]]), and removed the unnecessary “echos” for debugging.

#!/bin/bash

declare -A converterArray
converterArray=([a]=A [b]=B [c]=C [d]=D [e]=E [f]=F [g]=G [h]=H [i]=I [j]=J [k]=K [l]=L [m]=M [n]=N [o]=O [p]=P [q]=Q [r]=R [s]=S [t]=T [u]=U [v]=V [w]=W [x]=X [y]=Y [z]=Z)

read -p "Enter elements separated by space, return to end: " -a inputArray

lowercasemsg=" Changed to uppercase."
uppercasemsg=" Already uppercase."
notlettermsg=" Doesn't start with a letter."

for word in "${inputArray[@]}"; do
    firstchar=${word:0:1}

    case $firstchar in 
    [[:lower:]]*)
        inputString=${converterArray[$firstchar]}${word:1}
        echo $word$lowercasemsg
        ;;
    [[:upper:]]*)
        echo $word$uppercasemsg
        ;;
    *)
        echo $word$notlettermsg
        ;;
    esac

done

(2nd edit: Fixed line where I forgot to put spaces around equals sign, originally forgotten in previous edit)

Answer

If $array is an array, "${array[@]}" gives all of the array elements. A bare $array references only the first element.

echo "${inputArray[@]}"

for word in "${inputArray[@]}"; do
    ...
done