How to export an associative array (hash) in bash?

Question

Related, but not a duplicate of: How to define hash tables in Bash?

I can define and use a bash hash, but I am unable to export it, even with the -x flag. For examp

Answer 1

There isn't really a good way to encode an array variable into the environment. See http://www.mail-archive.com/bug-bash@gnu.org/msg01774.html (Chet Ramey is the maintainer of bash)