Pfthb

I'm trying to create a script to use to get my Mac ready to work with all the tools/app I need.

I created a list of casks I need:

CASKS=(
 transmission
 vlc
 )

I'm trying to loop through the CASKS list (is it a list?) to install casks 1 by 1 seeing what actually is getting installed:

echo "Installing casks"
for i in "$CASKS[@]"; do
 echo "Installing "$CASKS[@]
 brew cask install $CASKS[@]
done

The script is not working as I want. On the terminal I can read:

Installing transmission vlc

whereas I'd like to see

Installing transmission...
(installation process going on...)

Installing VLC...
(installation process going on...)

Basically the whole process is getting repeated over and over for all the elements in the CASKS list and Homebrew is telling me that casks have been already installed.

How can I fix it?

You need to actually use your loop variable (i) instead of referring to the whole array with $CASKS[@]:

echo "Installing casks"
for i in "$CASKS[@]"; do
 echo "Installing $i"
 brew cask install "$i"
done

Also note that it's generally a good idea to quote your variable expansions (e.g. "$i"). (This advice does not apply if your CASKS array elements contain multiple words that are meant to be taken as separate arguments to brew cask install; in that case you'd use brew cask install $i without quotes.)

The looping way like this:

## declare an array variable
## can be on the same line or on multi-lines
declare -a arr=("zsh" "zsh-completions"
 "ffmpeg --with-zimg --with-xz --with-theora --with-tools --with-rubberband --with-fontconfig --with-frei0r --with-game-music-emu --with-libass --with-libcaca --with-libssh --with-libvorbis --with-fdk-aac --with-ffplay --with-freetype --with-libass --with-libquvi --with-opencore-amr --with-openh264 --with-openjpeg --with-theora --with-snappy --with-two-lame --with-wavpack --with-webp --with-xz --with-libvorbis --with-libvpx --with-opus --with-x265"
 "asciidoc"
)

## now loop through the above array with use of the loop-variable `i`
for i in "$arr[@]"
do
 echo "Installing $i..."
 brew install $i
done

You could do it the easy way and just do this in a script:

brew install zsh
brew install zsh-completions
brew install ffmpeg --with-zimg --with-xz --with-theora --with-tools --with-rubberband --with-fontconfig --with-frei0r --with-game-music-emu --with-libass --with-libcaca --with-libssh --with-libvorbis --with-fdk-aac --with-ffplay --with-freetype --with-libass --with-libquvi --with-opencore-amr --with-openh264 --with-openjpeg --with-theora --with-snappy --with-two-lame --with-wavpack --with-webp --with-xz --with-libvorbis --with-libvpx --with-opus --with-x265
brew install asciidoc

Just add a new brew install ... line every time you add somthing so you can repeat it on a new machine...

I myself have two of these lists. One for the brew installs and one for the brew cask installs and it has served me just fine :-)