How can I get unique values from an array in Bash?

Question

I\'ve got almost the same question as here.

I have an array which contains aa ab aa ac aa ad, etc. Now I want to select all unique elements from this ar

Answer 1

To create a new array consisting of unique values, ensure your array is not empty then do one of the following:

Remove duplicate entries (with sorting)

readarray -t NewArray < <(printf '%s\n' "${OriginalArray[@]}" | sort -u)

Remove duplicate entries (without sorting)

readarray -t NewArray < <(printf '%s\n' "${OriginalArray[@]}" | awk '!x[$0]++')

Warning: Do not try to do something like NewArray=( $(printf '%s\n' "${OriginalArray[@]}" | sort -u) ). It will break on spaces.