Prototype: readstringarrayidx(array, filename, comment, split, maxentries, maxbytes)

Return type: int

Description: Populates the two-dimensional array array with up to maxentries fields from the first maxbytes bytes of file filename.

One dimension is separated by the regex split, the other by the lines in the file. The array arguments are both integer indexes, allowing for non-identifiers at first field (e.g. duplicates or names with spaces), unlike readstringarray.

The comment field is a multiline regular expression and will strip out unwanted patterns from the file being read, leaving unstripped characters to be split into fields. Using the empty string ("") indicates no comments.

Returns an integer number of keys in the array (i.e., the number of lines matched). If you only want the fields in the first matching line (e.g., to mimic the behavior of the getpwnam(3) on the file /etc/passwd), use getfields(), instead.

Arguments:

  • array: string - Array identifier to populate - in the range: [a-zA-Z0-9_$(){}\[\].:]+
  • filename: string - File name to read - in the range: "?(/.*)
  • comment: string - Regex matching comments - in the range: .*
  • split: string - Regex to split data - in the range: .*
  • maxentries: int - Maximum number of entries to read - in the range: 0,99999999999
  • maxbytes: int - Maximum bytes to read - in the range: 0,99999999999

Example:

code
vars:

  "dim_array"

     int =>  readstringarrayidx("array_name","/tmp/array","\s*#[^\n]*",":",10,4000);

Input example:

code
at spaced:x:25:25:Batch jobs daemon:/var/spool/atjobs:/bin/bash
duplicate:x:103:105:User for Avahi:/var/run/avahi-daemon:/bin/false    # Disallow login
beagleindex:x:104:106:User for Beagle indexing:/var/cache/beagle:/bin/bash
duplicate:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/bin/bash
# Daemon has the default shell
daemon:x:2:2:Daemon:/sbin:

Results in a systematically indexed map of the file:

code
array_name[0][0]       at spaced
array_name[0][1]       x
array_name[0][2]       25
array_name[0][3]       25
array_name[0][4]       Batch jobs daemon
array_name[0][5]       /var/spool/atjobs
array_name[0][6]       /bin/bash
array_name[1][0]       duplicate
array_name[1][1]       x
array_name[1][2]       103
array_name[1][3]       105
array_name[1][4]       User for Avahi
array_name[1][5]       /var/run/avahi-daemon
array_name[1][6]       /bin/false
...