Associative Arrays: Key-Value Arrays

Associative arrays use keys. Like dictionaries. Key-value pairs.

Here's the thing: Associative arrays are like dictionaries. Use keys instead of numbers. Useful.

Declaring

declare -A colors
colors["red"]="#FF0000"
colors["green"]="#00FF00"

My take: declare -A creates associative array. Use it.

echo "${colors[red]}"

My take: Access by key. Not by number.

for key in "${!colors[@]}"; do
    echo "$key: ${colors[$key]}"
done

My take: ${!array[@]} gets keys. Use it.

declare -A config
config["host"]="example.com"
config["port"]="8080"

Now that you understand associative arrays, let's talk about Array Iteration.

Personal note: Associative arrays seemed unnecessary at first. Then I used them. Now I use them for configs. They're useful. Learn them.