Create associative array in bash 3

Question

After thoroughly searching for a way to create an associative array in bash, I found that declare -A array will do the trick. But the problem is, it is only for

Answer 1

Here is another post/explanation on associative arrays in bash 3 and older using parameter expansion:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/4444841

Gilles' method has a nice if statement to catch delimiter issues, sanitize oddball input ...etc. Use that.

If you are somewhat familiar with parameter expansion:
http://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/html_node/Shell-Parameter-Expansion.html

To use in your scenario [ as stated: sending to script ]: Script 1: sending_array.sh

# A pretend Python dictionary with bash 3 
ARRAY=( "cow:moo"
        "dinosaur:roar"
        "bird:chirp"
        "bash:rock" )

bash ./receive_arr.sh "${ARRAY[@]}"

Script 2: receive_arr.sh

argAry1=("$@")

function process_arr () {
    declare -a hash=("${!1}")
    for animal in "${hash[@]}"; do
        echo "Key: ${animal%%:*}"
        echo "Value: ${animal#*:}"
    done
}

process_arr argAry1[@]

exit 0

Method 2, sourcing the second script: Script 1: sending_array.sh

source ./receive_arr.sh
# A pretend Python dictionary with bash 3 
ARRAY=( "cow:moo"
        "dinosaur:roar"
        "bird:chirp"
        "bash:rock" )

process_arr ARRAY[@]

Script 2: receive_arr.sh

function process_arr () {
    declare -a hash=("${!1}")
    for animal in "${hash[@]}"; do
        echo "Key: ${animal%%:*}"
        echo "Value: ${animal#*:}"
    done
}

References:
Passing arrays as parameters in bash