How do you echo a string from a list in cygwin shell script

Question

seven="( . 1 . 1 . 1)"
octal="zero one two three four five six seven"

for n in $octal
do
   echo $n
done

When this gets to seven it echos "seven". How do you get it to echo ( . 1 . 1 . 1) which is the string for $seven?

Do you want an answer for the C shell as well? The same code is unlikely to work for both it and `bash`. — chepner, Jun 11 '13 at 09:34

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 11 '13 at 02:18

4

seven="( . 1 . 1 . 1)"
octal="zero one two three four five six seven"

for n in $octal
do
   echo "${!n:-$n}"
done

answered Jun 11 '13 at 02:18

That worked great! What is the difference between ${n:-$n} and $(!n:-$n} ? – user2472919 Jun 12 '13 at 09:35
The `!` is indirection; it tells bash to look at a variable with the name contained in the variable rather than at the variable itself. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Jun 12 '13 at 15:08

1 Answers1