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

Advertisement

Answer