Accessing array elements in Bash Scripting - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

Accessing a single element from a Bash array

What is the output of this Bash script?

Bash Scripting

arr=(apple banana cherry)
echo ${arr[1]}

A banana

B apple

C cherry

D SyntaxError

💡 Hint

Remember that Bash arrays start indexing at 0.

In Bash, arrays start at index 0, so arr[1] is the second element, 'banana'.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

Accessing all elements of a Bash array

What does this script print?

Bash Scripting

arr=(red green blue)
echo ${arr[@]}

A red green blue

B redgreenblue

C red

D SyntaxError

💡 Hint

The '@' symbol expands all elements separated by spaces.

Using ${arr[@]} prints all elements separated by spaces.

💻 Command Output

advanced

Accessing a range of elements from a Bash array

What is the output of this script?

Bash Scripting

arr=(one two three four five)
echo ${arr[@]:2:2}

A SyntaxError

B two three

C three

D three four

💡 Hint

The syntax ${arr[@]:start:length} extracts a slice.

Starting at index 2, length 2, the elements are 'three' and 'four'.

💻 Command Output

advanced

Accessing the last element of a Bash array

What does this script output?

Bash Scripting

arr=(alpha beta gamma delta)
echo ${arr[-1]}

A delta

B alpha

C empty line

D SyntaxError

💡 Hint

Negative indices are not supported in Bash arrays.

Bash does not support negative indices; ${arr[-1]} is treated as an empty string.

💻 Command Output

expert

Accessing array elements with indirect referencing

What is the output of this script?

Bash Scripting

arr=(sun moon star)
index=1
echo ${arr[$index]}

A star

B moon

C sun

D SyntaxError

💡 Hint

Variables inside array indices are expanded normally.

The variable index=1, so ${arr[$index]} accesses the second element 'moon'.