Add ordering to associative array using an indexed array with matching values.

bash/associative_array.bash

@@ -25,3 +25,17 @@ done
 # key: repo_two
 # repo_one is true
 # key: repo_three
+
+# NOTE: Be care of -A versus -a in the array declaration. A -a makes an *indexed* array as opposed to an *associative* array.
+#       But given that an associative array is actually a hash table, it doesn't store the pairs in the order you put them
+#       into the array, they are instead stored in their hash value order. If order matters you need to use an indexed array.
+# The following shows how to use both an indexed array and an associative array together to get both, if that's what you need.
+# (Ref https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29161323/how-to-keep-associative-array-order)
+declare -a arrOrder       ; declare -A arrData
+arrOrder+=( repo_one )    ; arrData[repo_one]=true
+arrOrder+=( repo_two )    ; arrData[repo_two]=true
+arrOrder+=( repo_three )  ; arrData[repo_three]=false
+for i in "${arrOrder[@]}"
+do
+    echo "$i: ${arrData[$i]}"
+done