Array of arrays in bash

Question

I\'m attempting to read an input file line by line which contains fields delimited by periods. I want to put them into an array of arrays so I can loop through them later on

Answer 1

I use Associative Arrays and use :: in the key to denote depth. The :: can also be used to embed attributes, but that is another subject,...

declare -A __myArrayOfArray=([Array1::Var1]="Assignment" [Array2::Var1]="Assignment")

An Array under Array1

__myArrayOfArray[Array1::SubArray1::Var1]="Assignment"

The entries in any array can be retrieved (in order ...) by ...

local __sortedKeys=`echo ${!__myArrayOfArray[@]} | xargs -n1 | sort -u | xargs`
for __key in ${__sortedKeys}; do
    #
    # show all properties in the Subordinate Profile "Array1::SubArray1::"
    if [[ ${__key} =~ ^Array1::SubArray1:: ]]; then
        __property=${__key##Array1::SubArray1::}
        if [[ ${__property} =~ :: ]]; then
            echo "Property ${__property%%:*} is a Subordinate array"
        else
            echo "Property ${__property} is set to: ${__myArrayOfArray[${__key}]}"
        fi
    fi 
done

THE list of subordinate "Profiles" can be derived by:

declare -A __subordinateProfiles=()
local __profile
local __key
for __key in "${!__myArrayOfArray[@]}"; do
    if [[ $__key =~ :: ]]; then
        local __property=${__key##*:}
        __profile=${__key%%:*}
        __subordinateProfiles[${__profile}]=1
    fi   
done