Shell Programming and Scripting

Hi
I have the following case statement:

case $larg in
*_* )
a=${larg%_*}; b=${larg#*_};
;;
*^* )
a=${larg%^*}; b=${larg#*^};
;;
esac

I cannot figure out what *_* and *^* stand for...

Also what a=${larg%_*}; b=${larg#*_}; and
a=${larg%^*}; b=${larg#*^}; calls do

Thanks a lot for help and your time -A

Hi,

First *_* : it represent a string in two (or more) parts as follow : Note that the * represent whatever char you want.
(of course, *^* is the same but with ^ instead of _ )

Secondly a=${larg%_*}; b=${larg#*_} :

It means that in a you will put all what is before "_" in your string and in b all what is after "_".
With the example I wrote, you will have
For more info on string manipulation, I advise you this website (in french I'm sorry...) :
Tutoriel de Bash: Les chaînes de caractères - La boîte à prog

I hope I am claer enough so that you understand...
Regards