On Tue, Mar 16, 2021 at 09:24:01AM +0100, Alex fxmbsw7 Ratchev wrote: > it doesnt make me much sense that unset -v assoc[$key] gives syntax error > or so..
Think of it this way: what would happen if you had a filename in a variable -- say, $file -- and you ran this command: rm -f $file You'd expect that to fail, right? Of course. unset -v assoc[$key] fails for exactly the same reason. unset does not have any magical powers. It's only a shell builtin, NOT a shell keyword. Therefore, the standard shell rules apply. Expansions occur first, followed by word splitting, which cause a list of argument words to be created and passed as arguments to the builtin. key='two words' unset -v assoc[$key] ==> 'unset' '-v' 'assoc[two' 'words]' You can even use set -x to see this in action: unicorn:~$ key='two words' unicorn:~$ set -x unicorn:~$ unset -v assoc[$key] + unset -v 'assoc[two' 'words]' bash: unset: `assoc[two': not a valid identifier bash: unset: `words]': not a valid identifier
