[Help-bash] Are "${!associative_array[@]}" and "${associative_array[@]}" always in the same order?

[Peng Yu]

Hi,

My test cases shows that "${!associative_array[@]}" and
"${associative_array[@]}" are in the same order. But no test cases can
cover all possible situations. Does anybody know whether they are
always in the same order? Thanks.

[Greg Wooledge]

Post by Peng Yu
cover all possible situations. Does anybody know whether they are
always in the same order? Thanks.

Why would you care? If you need the indices, you use "${!a[@]}" and
this gives you a list of the indices in some unpredictable order.
You either iterate over this list as-is, or you sort it. You don't
use "${a[@]}" and then wonder whether the two lists match up.

[konsolebox]

Post by Peng Yu
Hi,
cover all possible situations. Does anybody know whether they are
always in the same order? Thanks.

Sounds like a feature similar to gawk's that's worth submitting a patch for
for the next version of bash.

[Chet Ramey]

Post by konsolebox

Post by Peng Yu
Hi,
cover all possible situations. Does anybody know whether they are
always in the same order? Thanks.

Sounds like a feature similar to gawk's that's worth submitting a patch for
for the next version of bash.

What, exactly, would the feature request be?

[Peng Yu]

To make "${!associative_array[@]}" and "${associative_array[@]}” of the
same order, if they are not guaranteed to be so.

Post by Chet Ramey

Post by konsolebox

Post by Peng Yu
Hi,
cover all possible situations. Does anybody know whether they are
always in the same order? Thanks.

Sounds like a feature similar to gawk's that's worth submitting a patch

for

Post by konsolebox
for the next version of bash.

What, exactly, would the feature request be?
--
``The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.'' - Chaucer
``Ars longa, vita brevis'' - Hippocrates

[Chet Ramey]

Post by Peng Yu
same order, if they are not guaranteed to be so.

Inspecting the code to provide a patch would resolve that question
one way or the other. It's left as an exercise for the reader.