On Monday 01 December 2008 18:25, David C. Rankin wrote:

Bash wizards:

I have run across another quandary. I am trying to get a filespec from the command line like:

./scriptname file1*

and file name expansion occurs before I can assign the filespec to a variable. I want to be able to grab the 'file1*' filespec without having to require that it be enclosed in single quotes (./scriptname 'file1*'). I'm using the filespec like:

In limited circumstances you can, but I'm guessing they're not the ones you want. The only option you have in BASH is whether a wild-card that does _not_ match any files is treated as an error or passed unaltered. I prefer the latter, 'cause then you can do things like this: % egrep -Rl --include=*.java pattern files-and-dirs without quoting the argument and not get an error (and pretty much always count on that wildcard _not_ matching, which is of course what I want). This is probably a pretty good analog for your case. Egrep itself (as it Recursively traverses the directories given) will look at only those files that match one of the --include= patterns (and does not match one of the --exclude= patterns). However, if you want a pattern that _does_ match to still be passed unaltered, you're out of luck. There's nothing corresponding to control over argument expansion in BASH other than quoting the arguments. However, if you're willing to do something along these lines (as in the aforementioned egrep example or as dd does with arg=value format), then you've got something to work with.

... What is the best way to skin this cat? ...

The preferred colloquialism is "skin that rat."

Thanks.

-- David C. Rankin

Randall Schulz -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

Hello, On Mon, 01 Dec 2008, David C. Rankin wrote:

Bash wizards:

I have run across another quandary. I am trying to get a filespec from the command line like:

./scriptname file1*

and file name expansion occurs before I can assign the filespec to a variable.

You can't. But (see below).

I want to be able to grab the 'file1*' filespec without having to require that it be enclosed in single quotes (./scriptname 'file1*').

You MUST use single or double quotes around the pattern or escape the wildcard characters, if you want to pass the pattern to your script. I.e. one of: ./script 'file1*' ./script "file1*" ./script file1\*

I'm using the filespec like:

FILESPEC=$1

*BLAM* Missing double quotes.

NEWNAME=$2

*BLAM* Missing double quotes.

for i in $(ls ${FILESPEC}); do

*BLAM* Not missing quotes, but it'll bite you _badly_ anyway, for any filename containg special characters (like whitespace and a bunch of others). DO NOT EVER USE THAT.

echo -n "moving $i --> ${NEWNAME}.${i##*.}"

ok.

if mv $i ${NEWNAME}.${i##*.}; then

*BLAM* Missing double quotes. Twice! [..]

Can I do it, or do I have to look at handling the expanded command line in another way like an array or something?

Why would you want this? You would just pass the pattern back to the (sub-)shell (and on to ls, which'll bite you anyway) and then the shell has to expand it anyway.

The easiest way would probably be to swap NEWNAME to $1 and then do $2 until I run out of parameters, but that would defeat my preference of the command line being ./rename what to-what. What is the best way to skin this cat? (I've also learned that the expression can be 'wash that pig' in some parts as well)

The easiest way is: mmv 'file1*' 'newname#1' (with '-v' if you like) or use krename. But generally for "looping over files", you can do something like: ==== UNTESTED! ==== #!/bin/bash newname="$1"; ## get base for target filename, as first argument shift; ## get rid of it (pop it from the argument list) ## loop over the remaining arguments, i.e. the file list, possibly ## generated by the shell from the pattern for name; do ## == implicit: for name in "$@"; do ## let the shell and/or find + xargs ## take care of what names you get to ## see. target="${newname}.${name##*.}" mv -i "$name" "$target" ## do NOT use such a 'mv' in a script ## without -i, EVER! Unless you ## implement a check for and handle an ## existing target yourself (which is ## why I use 'target' here at all), or ## you like to shoot yourself in the ## foot with a bazooka and lose data. done ==== Call it as: ./script newname pattern* If you want verbose output, just use 'mv -i -v ...'. BTW: you realize, that you'll get collisions for any 2 files matched by the pattern, which have the same extension (after the last '.')? To remedy this, you'll have to construct "target" differently. Also, you could implement verbosity and target (newname) as options, but that (parsing options) is a bit out of scope right now. Any questions? HTH, -dnh PS: sorry if I sound a bit harsh ... -- If ignorance is bliss, why aren't there more happy people? -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

On Tuesday 02 December 2008 03:25:44 David C. Rankin wrote:

Bash wizards:

I have run across another quandary. I am trying to get a filespec from the command line like:

./scriptname file1*

and file name expansion occurs before I can assign the filespec to a variable. I want to be able to grab the 'file1*' filespec without having to require that it be enclosed in single quotes (./scriptname 'file1*').

Others have replied with how you should be doing it, so I'll just add how you can disable globbing (the term for matching wild cards with file names) set -f or set -o noglob on This will disable all globbing, so file1* will be sent as is to your program. You can turn it back on with either set +f or set -o noglob off Anders -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org