How can I find the sum of the elements of an array in Bash?
read -a array
tot=0
for i in ${array[@]}; do
let tot+=$i
done
echo "Total: $tot"
My code (which I actually utilize) is inspired by answer of gniourf_gniourf. I personally consider this more clear to read/comprehend, and to modify. Accepts also floating points, not just integers.
Sum values in array:
arr=( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 )
IFS='+' sum=$(echo "scale=1;${arr[*]}"|bc)
echo $sum # 55
With small change, you can get the average of values:
arr=( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 )
IFS='+' avg=$(echo "scale=1;(${arr[*]})/${#arr[@]}"|bc)
echo $avg # 5.5
Given an array (of integers), here's a funny way to add its elements (in bash):
sum=$(IFS=+; echo "$((${array[*]}))")
echo "Sum=$sum"
e.g.,
$ array=( 1337 -13 -666 -208 -408 )
$ sum=$(IFS=+; echo "$((${array[*]}))")
$ echo "$sum"
42
Pro: No loop, no subshell!
Con: Only works with integers
Edit (2012/12/26).
As this post got bumped up, I wanted to share with you another funny way, using dc
, which is then not restricted to just integers:
$ dc <<< '[+]sa[z2!>az2!>b]sb1 2 3 4 5 6 6 5 4 3 2 1lbxp'
42
This wonderful line adds all the numbers. Neat, eh?
If your numbers are in an array array
:
$ array=( 1 2 3 4 5 6 6 5 4 3 2 1 )
$ dc <<< '[+]sa[z2!>az2!>b]sb'"${array[*]}lbxp"
42
In fact there's a catch with negative numbers. The number '-42' should be given to dc
as _42
, so:
$ array=( -1.75 -2.75 -3.75 -4.75 -5.75 -6.75 -7.75 -8.75 )
$ dc <<< '[+]sa[z2!>az2!>b]sb'"${array[*]//-/_}lbxp"
-42.00
will do.
Pro: Works with floating points.
Con: Uses an external process (but there's no choice if you want to do non-integer arithmetic — but dc
is probably the lightest for this task).