declare:tldr:b3bea

The given command seems to be using the declare command in Bash to declare an associative array with a specific variable name (${variable}).

Here's a breakdown of the command:

1. declare: This is a Bash built-in command used to declare variables and give them attributes.

2. -A: It is an option used with the declare command to declare an associative array.

3. ${variable}: This is the name of the variable being declared as an associative array. It could be any valid variable name.

4. =(${[key_a]=item_a [key_b]=item_b [key_c]=item_c}): This part initializes the associative array with key-value pairs. The array is enclosed in () parentheses to denote an array. Inside the parentheses, each key-value pair is enclosed with [] brackets. The key-value pairs are separated by spaces.

In the given example, the associative array is being initialized with the following key-value pairs:

• key_a mapped to item_a
• key_b mapped to item_b
• key_c mapped to item_c

So, after executing this command, the associative array named ${variable} would have the following values: ${variable["key_a"]} would be item_a ${variable["key_b"]} would be item_b ${variable["key_c"]} would be item_c