append a value to an existing variable?

[bashhead]

Hi all,
I have a basic shell script question.

Say I have a variable called test.

I already have a value in test = 'monkey'

How do I append another value taken from a file, to this variable?
For example, I wanted to get a value called 'dog' from a file called 'animals', and append dog to the test variable, so that it has the values 'dog monkey' in it.

To make it short :
test = 'monkey'

I wanted to get another value (dog) from a file, and append it to test so I get :

test = 'monkey dog'

Appreciate all your help!

Thanks

[radoulov]

$ test=monkey
$ echo dog>file
$ test="$test $(<file)"
$ echo "$test"
monkey dog
 

[bykwzpz]

Hi all,
I have a basic shell script question.

Say I have a variable called test.

I already have a value in test = 'monkey'

How do I append another value taken from a file, to this variable?
For example, I wanted to get a value called 'dog' from a file called 'animals', and append dog to the test variable, so that it has the values 'dog monkey' in it.

To make it short :
test = 'monkey'

I wanted to get another value (dog) from a file, and append it to test so I get :

test = 'monkey dog'

Appreciate all your help!

Thanks

Another way is to simply redefine the variable and include the original like this:

test="monkey" #${test} = monkey
test="${test} dog" #${test} now = "monkey dog"

This would all be done in memory without using the file on disk and be faster.