Configuration Information [Automatically generated, do not change]: Machine: x86_64 OS: linux-musl Compiler: gcc Compilation CFLAGS: -g -O2 -Wno-parentheses -Wno-format-security uname output: Linux 28e237a5e16f 5.5.7-200.fc31.x86_64 #1 SMP Fri Feb 28 17:18:37 UTC 2020 x86_64 GNU/Linux Machine Type: x86_64-pc-linux-musl
Bash Version: 5.1 Patch Level: 0 Release Status: alpha Description: I do not know if this is related to bash 5.1 erroneously being "a little aggressive about skipping over empty strings" mentioned in "Declaring arrays with empty string in one line is bugged", but using parameter transformation on an empty array, throws an error if "set -u" is turned on. This was not how bash 4.4 and 5.0 worked. This bug makes it impossible to check if an empty variable is an array using parameter transformation while "set -u" is turned on Repeat-By: # Indirection docker run -it --rm bash:5.1-alpha bash -uc 'foo(){ echo "${!1@a}"; }; bar=(); foo bar' # Empty array docker run -it --rm bash:5.1-alpha bash -uc 'bar=(); echo "${bar@a}"' # Declared unset array docker run -it --rm bash:5.1-alpha bash -uc 'declare -a bar; echo "${bar@a}"' # Empty associative array docker run -it --rm bash:5.1-alpha bash -uc 'declare -A Bar=(); echo "${Bar@a}"' # Declared unset associative array docker run -it --rm bash:5.1-alpha bash -uc 'declare -A Bar; echo "${Bar@a}"' # I also tested on bash:devel-20200805, with the same results Fix: # All five of the above examples work in bash 4.4 and 5.0, and I would expect the same behavior in bash 5.1 # Expected behavior that is already there in 5.1 alpha docker run -it --rm bash:5.1-alpha bash -uc 'bar=(); echo "${bar[@]}' # succeeds, but this is already consistent with bash 4.4 and 5.0. So this is expected to succeed. docker run -it --rm bash:5.1-alpha bash -uc 'bar=(); echo "${bar[@]+set}' # echos nothing, but this is already consistent with bash 3.2 and 5.0. So this is expected behavior docker run -it --rm bash:5.1-alpha bash -uc 'bar=(); echo "${bar}' # fails, but this is already consistent with bash 4.4 and 5.0. So this is expected to fail, there is no 0th element to the array. docker run -it --rm bash:5.1-alpha bash -uc 'bar=(); echo "${bar+set}' # echos nothing, but this is already consistent with bash 3.2 and 5.0. So this is expected behavior Thanks