Bash 5 reference · Shell Builtins and Syntax

mapfile (Bash builtin)

Read all lines of input into an indexed array at once (also called readarray), optionally trimming newlines with -t.

Bash 5

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Syntax

mapfile [-t] [-n COUNT] [-s SKIP] ARRAY

Parameter	Description
`-t`	Remove the trailing newline from each line.
`-n COUNT`	Read at most COUNT lines.
`-s SKIP`	Skip the first SKIP lines.

Lines into an array, skipping a header

printf 'id,name\n1,Ana\n2,Ben\n' > users.csv
mapfile -t -s 1 rows < users.csv
echo "${#rows[@]} rows; first: ${rows[0]}"

Output

2 rows; first: 1,Ana

Run this on your computer — see “Get Started” for setup.

From a command with process substitution

mapfile -t files < <(printf '%s\n' b.txt a.txt c.txt | sort)
printf '[%s]\n' "${files[@]}"

Output

[a.txt]
[b.txt]
[c.txt]

Run this on your computer — see “Get Started” for setup.

read · Read a line from standard input into variables, splitting on IFS; use -r to keep backslashes and -p for a prompt.
arrays · Indexed and associative arrays: create, append, read elements, count, slice and loop over them safely.
Bash Arrays and Associative Arrays · tutorial