[SOLVED] Is it possible to run pdfgrep with keywords stored in a array?

Issue

I want search in PDF files some different words; using pdfgrep https://pdfgrep.org/doc.html I can do it, but I'm not able to run many times, one for each word present in the array.

Then I want save every output in a different single file.

#!/bin/bash

function search_elements(){
   array=("$@")
   for i in "${array[@]}";
       do
              pdfgrep -Hir ' "$i" ' . 
       done
}

array = ("gomma" "lacca" "bromo")

search_elements "$(array[@])"

This is the output from ShellCheck:

• Line 5: SC2034

  for i in "${array[@]}";
  ^-- SC2034 (warning): i appears unused. Verify use (or export if used externally).
  

• Line 7: SC2016

              pdfgrep -Hir ' "$i" ' .
                           ^-- SC2016 (info): Expressions don't expand in single quotes, use double quotes for that.
  

• Line 11: SC2283 SC1036 SC1088

  array = ("gomma" "lacca" "bromo")
        ^-- SC2283 (error): Remove spaces around = to assign (or use [ ] to compare, or quote '=' if literal).
        ^-- SC1036 (error): '(' is invalid here. Did you forget to escape it?
        ^-- SC1088 (error): Parsing stopped here. Invalid use of parentheses?
  

Solution

Sigh. Here are the syntax errors fixed.

#!/bin/bash

# "function" keyword is unnecessary and ugly
search_elements(){
   # no need for an array
   for i; do
        # fix quoting and crazy indentation; add redirect
        pdfgrep -Hir "$i" . >"$i.txt"
   done
}

# remove spurious spaces
array=("gomma" "lacca" "bromo")

# braces, not parentheses
search_elements "${array[@]}"

Putting the logic in a function seems somewhat like over-engineering; this is simple enough to just live in a script which you call with the keywords you want to scan for.

#!/bin/sh
for i; do
    pdfgrep -Hir "$i" . >"$i.txt"
done

Nothing here uses Bash syntax; /bin/sh is more portable as well as faster on many platforms.

The shellcheck warnings are clickable links with more information about each error; please read what it tells you before you ask a human to help you.

Answered By - tripleee

Answer Checked By - Timothy Miller (WPSolving Admin)