Here is a simpler function which uses exclusively Bash internals and spawns only one sub-shell:
#!/bin/bash
function iwScan() {
# disable globbing to avoid surprises
set -o noglob
# make temporary variables local to our function
local AP S
# read stdin of the function into AP variable
while read -r AP; do
## print lines only containing needed fields
[[ "${AP//'SSID: '*}" == '' ]] && printf '%b' "${AP/'SSID: '}\n"
[[ "${AP//'signal: '*}" == '' ]] && ( S=( ${AP/'signal: '} ); printf '%b' "${S[0]},";)
done
set +o noglob
}
iwScan <<< "$(iw wlan0 scan)"
Output:
-66.00,FRITZ!Box 7312
-56.00,ALICE-WLAN01
-78.00,o2-WLAN93
-78.00,EasyBox-7A2302
-62.00,dlink
-74.00,EasyBox-59DF56
-76.00,BELAYS_Network
-82.00,o2-WLAN20
-82.00,BPPvM
The function can be easily modified to provide additional fields by adding a necessary filter into the while read -r AP while-loop, eg:
[[ "${AP//'last seen: '*}" == '' ]] && ( S=( ${AP/'last seen: '} ); printf '%b' "${S[0]},";)
Output:
-64.00,1000,FRITZ!Box 7312
-54.00,492,ALICE-WLAN01
-76.00,2588,o2-WLAN93
-78.00,652,LN8-Gast
-72.00,2916,WHITE-BOX
-66.00,288,ALICE-WLAN
-78.00,800,EasyBox-59DF56
-80.00,720,EasyBox-7A2302
-84.00,596,ALICE-WLAN08
NOTE: The order of fields is the same as in the original iw output
Happy Bash smashing! ,)