adding strings in bash
 

Here's my problem.

#!/bin/bash

$APE=ape
$BEAR=bear
$APEBEAR=$APE + $BEAR <--- will not work

how do you do this?
I can't seem to find how to add two strings???

+ is a java string operator not a bash script operator

Try

#!/bin/bash

APE=ape
BEAR=bear
APEBEAR=`echo $APE $BEAR`
echo $APEBEAR

Okay but that would yield: "ape bear" as result, not "apebear"

nevermind, found it after all:

APE=ape
BEAR=bear
APEBEAR=$APE$BEAR

OT, but it's better to use enclosing quotes or braces to shield your variables from breaking (due to you shell's ${IFS}): APEBEAR=${APE}${BEAR}.