@cassidoo's interview question from April 30, 2023

removeZeroes.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -eu -o pipefail

removeZeroes () {
	IFS=" " read -ra array <<< "$@"
	declare -a ltrim=("")
	declare -a rtrim=("")
	tmp=""
	length="${#array[@]}"

	echo -e "begin:\t${array[@]}"

	for (( j=0; j<length; j++ )); do
		if [[ "${array[j]}" == '0' ]]; then
			continue
		else
			tmp=${array[@]:j}
			break
		fi
	done
	if [ -z "$tmp" ]; then
		echo -e "done:\t[]"
		return
	fi

	IFS=" " read -ra ltrim <<< "$tmp"
	unset tmp

	length="${#ltrim[@]}"
	for (( k=length-1; k>=0; k-- )); do
	#	echo "k is ${k}; ltrim[k] is ${ltrim[k]}"
		if [[ "${ltrim[k]}" == '0' ]]; then
			continue
		else
			tmp=${ltrim[@]::k+1}
			break
		fi
	done
	IFS=" " read -ra rtrim <<< "$tmp"
	echo -e "done:\t${rtrim[@]}"
}

declare -a array1=( 0 0 0 3 1 4 1 5 9 0 0 0 0 )
declare -a array2=( 0 0 0 )
declare -a array3=( 8 )

removeZeroes "${array1[@]}"
removeZeroes "${array2[@]}"
removeZeroes "${array3[@]}"

begin:	0 0 0 3 1 4 1 5 9 0 0 0 0
done:	3 1 4 1 5 9
begin:	0 0 0
done:	[]
begin:	8
done:	8