How to split strings over multiple lines in Bash?

Question

How can i split my long string constant over multiple lines?

I realize that you can do this:

echo "continuation \\
lines"
>continuation li         


        

Answer 1

You can use bash arrays

$ str_array=("continuation"
             "lines")

then

$ echo "${str_array[*]}"
continuation lines

there is an extra space, because (after bash manual):

If the word is double-quoted, ${name[*]} expands to a single word with the value of each array member separated by the first character of the IFS variable

So set IFS='' to get rid of extra space

$ IFS=''
$ echo "${str_array[*]}"
continuationlines