From d5e2f0b1db286a0ce5f7f9ec145e36f6560910f9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mykhailo Chalyi <mike@chaliy.name>
Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2026 23:36:45 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix(interpreter): initialize assoc/indexed arrays for local
 -A/-a without value

`local -A m` followed by `m["a"]="1"` produced an indexed array instead
of associative because execute_local_builtin only inserted into
call_stack.locals without creating the assoc_arrays entry.

Initialize the appropriate array type when local -A or -a is used
without a compound assignment value, in both function and global paths.

Closes #875
---
 crates/bashkit/src/interpreter/mod.rs         | 13 ++++++++-
 .../spec_cases/bash/assoc-arrays.test.sh      | 29 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 41 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/crates/bashkit/src/interpreter/mod.rs b/crates/bashkit/src/interpreter/mod.rs
index aca72bdb..e39225ad 100644
--- a/crates/bashkit/src/interpreter/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/bashkit/src/interpreter/mod.rs
@@ -4505,6 +4505,11 @@ impl Interpreter {
                         .unwrap()
                         .locals
                         .insert(arg.to_string(), String::new());
+                    if flags.assoc {
+                        self.assoc_arrays.entry(arg.to_string()).or_default();
+                    } else if flags.array {
+                        self.arrays.entry(arg.to_string()).or_default();
+                    }
                     if flags.integer {
                         self.variables
                             .insert(format!("_INTEGER_{}", arg), "1".to_string());
@@ -4542,7 +4547,13 @@ impl Interpreter {
                             .insert(var_name.to_string(), value.to_string());
                     }
                 } else if !is_internal_variable(arg) {
-                    self.insert_variable_checked(arg.to_string(), String::new());
+                    if flags.assoc {
+                        self.assoc_arrays.entry(arg.to_string()).or_default();
+                    } else if flags.array {
+                        self.arrays.entry(arg.to_string()).or_default();
+                    } else {
+                        self.insert_variable_checked(arg.to_string(), String::new());
+                    }
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/crates/bashkit/tests/spec_cases/bash/assoc-arrays.test.sh b/crates/bashkit/tests/spec_cases/bash/assoc-arrays.test.sh
index fc0829a9..1ed9c7bb 100644
--- a/crates/bashkit/tests/spec_cases/bash/assoc-arrays.test.sh
+++ b/crates/bashkit/tests/spec_cases/bash/assoc-arrays.test.sh
@@ -173,6 +173,35 @@ b=2
 c=3
 ### end
 
+### assoc_local_declare_then_assign
+myfunc() {
+  local -A m
+  m["a"]="1"
+  m["b"]="2"
+  echo "count: ${#m[@]}"
+  for k in "${!m[@]}"; do echo "key=$k"; done | sort
+}
+myfunc
+### expect
+count: 2
+key=a
+key=b
+### end
+
+### assoc_local_keys_in_cmdsub
+myfunc() {
+  local -A m
+  m["a"]="1"
+  m["b"]="2"
+  result="$(printf '%s\n' "${!m[@]}" | sort)"
+  echo "result: [$result]"
+}
+myfunc
+### expect
+result: [a
+b]
+### end
+
 ### assoc_iteration
 declare -A m
 m[a]="1"