For the record, in bash 4.2.25 (Ubuntu LTS 12.04) you can work around your issue with :
printf -v "aa["ind2"]" %s "" or printf -v "aa["ind2"]" %s D -- Damien Nadé <dnade....@orange.com> Astek Sud-Est pour France Télécom - Orange/OF/DSIF/DFY/SFY/DO Sophia Antipolis - France / Tel : 04 97 46 28 74 > -----Message d'origine----- > De : bug-bash-bounces+dnade.ext=orange....@gnu.org [mailto:bug-bash- > bounces+dnade.ext=orange....@gnu.org] De la part de NBaH > Envoyé : jeudi 21 novembre 2013 19:04 > À : bug-bash@gnu.org > Objet : bash 4.3 and 4.2 trouble with associative arrays assigned by > ``printf -v'' > > hello, > > Configuration Information [Automatically generated, do not change]: > Machine: x86_64 > OS: linux-gnu > Compiler: gcc > Compilation CFLAGS: -DPROGRAM='bash' -DCONF_HOSTTYPE='x86_64' > -DCONF_OSTYPE='linux-gnu' -DCONF_MACHTYPE='x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu' > -DCONF_VENDOR='unknown' -DLOCALEDIR='/home/nbah/share/locale' > -DPACKAGE='bash' -DSHELL -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -DDEBUG -DMALLOC_DEBUG -I. -I. > -I./include -I./lib -g -O2 > uname output: Linux mymachine 3.2.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.2.51-1 > x86_64 GNU/Linux > Machine Type: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu > > Bash Version: 4.3 > Patch Level: 0 > Release Status: beta2 > > Description: > associative indexes don't appear when assigned by ``printf -v'' > $ declare -A aa > $ printf -v "aa["ind1"]" "value 1" > $ printf -v "aa["ind2"]" "value 2" > $ printf '%s\n' "${!aa[@]}" > > $ > > also : > Bash Version: 4.2 > Patch Level: 37 > Release Status: release > empty value in associative array when assigned by ``printf -v'' don't > "assign" index > $ declare -A aa > $ printf -v "aa["ind1"]" "value 1" > $ printf -v "aa["ind2"]" "" > $ printf '%s\n' "${!aa[@]}" > ind1 > $ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ce message et ses pieces jointes peuvent contenir des informations confidentielles ou privilegiees et ne doivent donc pas etre diffuses, exploites ou copies sans autorisation. Si vous avez recu ce message par erreur, veuillez le signaler a l'expediteur et le detruire ainsi que les pieces jointes. Les messages electroniques etant susceptibles d'alteration, Orange decline toute responsabilite si ce message a ete altere, deforme ou falsifie. Merci. This message and its attachments may contain confidential or privileged information that may be protected by law; they should not be distributed, used or copied without authorisation. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and delete this message and its attachments. As emails may be altered, Orange is not liable for messages that have been modified, changed or falsified. Thank you.