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How to pass a wildcard parameter to a bash file?
If you’re truly sure you want to get the script to expand the *, you have to make sure that * is passed to the script (enclosed in quotes, as in the other answers), and then make sure it is expanded at the right point in the processing (which is not trivial). At that point, I’d use an array.
Why does wildcard expand the list of matches in Bash?
The wildcard pattern is expanded to the list of matches because it’s in a context (the parentheses of array assignment) where multiple words are expected. In bash, $Forward when Forward is an array is equivalent to $ {Forward [0]} — referencing an array variable with the same syntax as a scalar variable refers to the first element of the array.
How to pass wild cards to a script?
I don’t often use $@ without the double quotes, but this is one time when it is more or less the correct thing to do. The tricky part is that it won’t handle wild cards with spaces in very well. That works fine. But try passing that as a wild-card to the script and well, let’s just say it gets to be tricky at that point.
How to expand a variable with a wildcard?
Any help is appreciated! The command Forward=*R1*.at.fastq sets the variable Forward to the string *R1*.at.fastq (star, capital R, digit 1, star, dot, lowercase A, etc.). Wildcards are only expanded in contexts that allow multiple words; the right-hand size of a variable assignment expects a single word, so no wildcard expansion occurs.
How to create array of all files in a directory?
I have a directory myDir of many .html files. I am trying to create an array of all the files in the directory so I might be able to index the array and be able to refer to particular html files in the directory. I have tried the following line:
How to generate an array in bash script?
Your solution will work for generating the array. Instead of using a while loop, use a for loop: Thanks for contributing an answer to Stack Overflow! Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research! But avoid … Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
Why does my shell script choke on whitespace or other special?
If you write myfiles=”file1 file2″, with spaces to separate the files, this can’t work with file names containing spaces. Unix file names can contain any character other than / (which is always a directory separator) and null bytes (which you can’t use in shell scripts with most shells).
What happens if there is no wildcard in shell script?
If your shell has a nullglob option and it’s turned on, a wildcard pattern that matches no files will be removed from the command line altogether. This will make ls see no pathname arguments, list the contents of the current directory and succeed, which is wrong.
How to iterate over arguments in a bash shell script?
See also How to iterate over arguments in a bash shell script. If you’re truly sure you want to get the script to expand the *, you have to make sure that * is passed to the script (enclosed in quotes, as in the other answers), and then make sure it is expanded at the right point in the processing (which is not trivial).
How to properly handle wildcard expansion in Linux?
The key was switching the IFS (Internal Field Separator) temporarily. You have to be sure to store this before switching and then switch it back when you are done with it as demonstrated above. Now you have a list of expanded files ( with spaces escaped) in the file [] array which you can then loop through.