Can "Arrays" be used in shell scripting



What I need to do with array is to read "N" numbers from keyboard and when
the position of the number is supplied through keyboard that number should be deleted....For doing this I need to store the numbers in an array

Can anyone tell me about the usage of array or any other method to store N numbers

Well, here's the Bash arrays guide: http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/arrays.html
HTH

Have a look here. I suggest you download the entire document.

D'oh, d'oh, d'oh ... too slow

Bash can have array variables.

Look in the info bash manual for the details.

There are exampes for creating and indexing them. You can determine many elements are in an array variable: ${#name[@]}.

One thing to keep in mind is that you might have a variable where name[0] is defined and name[10] is defined but the others aren't set.

So if you have defined a variable "name":
name=(10 11 12 13); name[100]=2

Then the array will have a size of 4.
So bash array variables are sort of a cross between an array and a hash. The element index has to be a positive integer.

You need to use square brackets around the index, and regular brackets around the variable when referencing them:
echo ${name[0]} ${name[1] ${name[100]}

Other general purpose scripting languages such as perl have arrays and hashes.

Arrays in bash are pretty limited. Some other shells (e.g. zsh) have associative arrays, which bash lacks (what a pity!).

If you are starting to require complex data structures, perhaps shell script isn't the best language for your project. If you're going to do a lot of manipulation of strings in arrays and sets and so on, maybe Perl or Python would be a better choice of language. It depends on what you are trying to do.

I agree totally.
you can use arrays in bash and ksh

I've been shell scripting professionally for about 10 years
but I never use them because, by then you should really start thinking about
using a decent scripting language.
they are a lot more fun to use, as matthew said, perl or python maybe.

Thank you friends.....I will try to learn arrays