Variables

Creating Bash Variables

Bash is able to hold values within a named variable similar to programming languages like Java, JavaScript, Python, and many more.

Notice how bash uses the equal sign (=) as an assignment operator.

name="John"

name = "Paul"

let name = "Paul";

String name = "John";

Syntax for initializing a variable in bash:

variable=value_to_hold

Two notes about bash variables:

• Bash variables do not support whitespace on either side of the equals or = sign.
• To reference a bash variable you need to use a $ in front of the variable name.

Creating a Variable

Create a new file called example-variable.sh

name="Paul"
echo $name

Add the above code to the file.

Run the command bash example-variable.sh

More Examples

Create a file called multiple-variables.sh

#!/bin/bash

## Variable holding the string "Ubuntu"
linux_distro="Ubuntu"

##Variable holding the number 23
number=23

##Arraylist holding multiple strings
language_list=("Bash" "Python" "JavaScript" "Java")

echo "Linux Distribution: " $linux_distro
echo "Michael Jordan: " $number
echo "Programming Langauges :" "${language_list[@]}"

Add the above code to the file.

Run the command bash multiple-variables.sh

Recap:

How to create variables in Bash:

variable=value_to_hold

• Bash variables are not type specfic
• Reference a bash variable with the $