How to return an array in bash without using globals?

Question

I have a function that creates an array and I want to return the array to the caller:

create_array() {
  local my_list=(\"a\", \"b\", \"c\")
  echo \"${my_li         


        

Answer 1

You were not so far out with your original solution. You had a couple of problems, you used a comma as a separator, and you failed to capture the returned items into a list, try this:

my_algorithm() {
  local result=( $(create_array) )
}

create_array() {
  local my_list=("a" "b" "c")  
  echo "${my_list[@]}" 
}

Considering the comments about embedded spaces, a few tweaks using IFS can solve that:

my_algorithm() {
  oldIFS="$IFS"
  IFS=','
  local result=( $(create_array) )
  IFS="$oldIFS"
  echo "Should be 'c d': ${result[1]}"
}

create_array() {
  IFS=','
  local my_list=("a b" "c d" "e f") 
  echo "${my_list[*]}" 
}