remove_array_dups sorts the array's order about pure-bash-bible

[Akianonymus]

So, while searching around i found a stackoverflow answer which actually solves the problem..
Link: https://stackoverflow.com/a/37962595

remove_array_dups() {
    declare -A Aseen
    Aunique=()
    for i in "$@"; do
        [[ ${Aseen[$i]} ]] && continue
        Aunique+=("$i")
        Aseen[$i]=x
    done
    printf '%s\n' "${Aunique[@]}"
}

This function removes the duplicates and doesn't affect the original order array.

[amno1]

I'm not sure if this was added later as the second example isn't sorted, but on my bash 4.4 and 5.0, associative arrays sort in lexicographical and reverse lexicographical order respectively. Strangely, I don't see the change in the 5.0 changelog, though.

I think that was case before 5.0 as well. These are not really arrays, these are hash tables (as implemented in C code). The order will depend on how internal hashing algorithm is implemented. However, remove_array_dups does not necessary impose any order, just that there are no duplicates in array, so I don't think it should be considered a bug, unless the order preservation is an explicit spec.