Shell Programming and Scripting

I am on HP-UX and I am trying to come up with a method to call in a list of files named like so.

filename020107.dat filename020207.dat filename020307.dat

Obviously I can list them ls them like so, ls filename*.dat. In case you did not notice the number is a date and I was hoping to match the filenames like so, ls filename[01-12][01-31][00-99].dat thus guaranteeing my date format. There could possibly be files named filenameabc123.dat or anything for that matter and I wanted to fine tune my listing a little more. I really though this form of globbing worked, but I have been unsuccessful.

filename[01-12][01-31][00-99].dat not found

Am I missing something or am I just wrong in thinking you can glob in this manner? Thanks in adavance.

filename[01][0-9][0-3][0-9][0-9][0-9].dat

That would allow for invalid dates, e.g., filename009900.dat. In ksh, give this a try (slightly tested):

Code:

filename@(0[1-9]|1[0-2])@(0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[0-1])@([0-9][0-9]).dat

Keep in mind that you still would be allowing for non-existent dates such as February 31 or November 31.

Based on the fact that was stated that the format of the files is:
filename<date>.dat
the regular expression would be strict enough, since it's fair to assume that whatever program produces these output files produces them with a valid date in the file name.

If other files are around with a similar format, your regular expression, even though it's more strict, would be as useless as mine. Unless ofcourse you promote the filosophy that a statement is better if it has a smaller chance on producing errors.

The only valid option, if files with similar patterns are around, is to isolate the date part from the filename and use e.g. a date conversion command/tool on that pattern and test for the return code.

I don't disagree with anything you have said, however...
If you're going to assume that whatever program produces these output files produces them with a valid date in the file name, 1) you've made your regular expression unnecessarily strict; that is, you could have just as easily used filename[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9].dat (although less reasonable, it's certainly easier to type), and 2) you're assuming the original poster's request is irrelevant, since his requirement was to "match the filenames like so, ls filename[01-12][01-31][00-99].dat thus guaranteeing [his] date format". In most cases here on unix.com, I do promote that philosophy. I agree, and that is something I have considered. However, I don't know of one offhand, and although I could write one, unless you can suggest an existing one to me, I can not offer it.