String length (${#var}) in Bash Scripting - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What is the output of this Bash script?

Consider the following Bash script. What will it print?

Bash Scripting

text="Hello World"
echo ${#text}

A 11

B 10

C Error: invalid syntax

D 12

💡 Hint

Count all characters including spaces.

The variable 'text' contains "Hello World" which has 11 characters including the space. Using ${#text} returns the length of the string.

💻 Command Output

intermediate

What does this script output?

What will this Bash script print?

Bash Scripting

empty=""
echo ${#empty}

A null

B 1

C Error: variable not set

D 0

💡 Hint

Check the length of an empty string.

The variable 'empty' is set to an empty string. Its length is 0.

💻 Command Output

advanced

What is the output of this script with special characters?

What will this Bash script print?

Bash Scripting

special="\n\t"
echo ${#special}

A 4

B 2

C 1

D Error: invalid escape sequence

💡 Hint

Count all characters including backslashes.

The variable 'special' contains four characters: backslash, n, backslash, t. So length is 4.

💻 Command Output

advanced

What is the output of this script with a multi-line string?

What will this Bash script print?

Bash Scripting

multi="Hello\nWorld"
echo ${#multi}

A 11

B 10

C 12

D Error: invalid string

💡 Hint

Count all characters including the backslash and n.

The string contains 12 characters: H e l l o \ n W o r l d (the backslash and n count as two characters).

📝 Syntax

expert

Which option causes a syntax error when trying to get string length?

Which of these Bash commands will cause a syntax error?

A echo ${#var}

B echo ${#var-1}

C echo ${#var:0}

D echo ${#var[0]}

💡 Hint

Check the syntax for parameter expansion and arithmetic.

Option B uses incorrect syntax: ${#var-1} is invalid because the '-' is interpreted as a subtraction but not in a valid context. The correct way to subtract would be different.