Shell Programming and Scripting

Hi Guys,
I'm trying to find all files with a particular extension and then loop some actions. The problem is that if the files have spaces in their names I get end up being each word as a separate result rather than the entire file.

Code:

ext=".txt"
out=".rtf"
for i in $( find "$1" -name "*$ext" ); do
    path=`dirname "$i"`
    filename=`basename "$i" $ext`
    
    echo "Path: $path"
    echo "Filename: $filename"
    echo "Out: $filename$out"
done

Running the script with:
$ ./scriptname.sh /path/to/folder\ with\ space/

The results would be something like:
Path: /path/to/folder
Filename: with
Out: with.rtf
Path: with
Filename: space
Out: space.rtf
Path: .
Filename: file
Out: file.rtf
Path: .
Filename: of
Out: of.rtf
Path: .
Filename: the
Out: the.rtf
Path: .
Filename: folder
Out: folder.rtf

Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong here?

Regards

Try something like this:

Code:

find "$1" -name "*$ext" | while read fname
do
   path="${fname%/*}"
   base="${fname##*/}"

   echo "path: $path"
   echo "base: $base"
   echo "filename: $fname"
done

Small test I ran in Kshell echoed one line per filename as I think you want.

Hi Agama, Thanks that works well. However $path is showing a a directory two levels up, not the one containing the file. How can I fix this?

I've never see those substitutions [or whatever] you've used in the variables before, Is there anywhere you can point me to to learn more?


Thanks again

The Advanced BASH Scripting Guide has a nice table of String Operations which should mostly apply to both modern KSH and BASH.

Just add both of these lines and these "damn spaces" won't bother you any more:

Code:

ext=".txt"
out=".rtf"
OIFS="$IFS"
IFS=""
for i in $(find "$1" -name "*$ext" ); do
     path=`dirname "$i"`
     filename=`basename "$i" $ext`

     echo "Path: $path"
     echo "Filename: $filename"
     echo "Out: $filename$out"
done
IFS="$OIFS"
...

That will not work at all. The entire output of the find command substitution will not undergo field splitting, resulting in one long word containing possibly many pathnames.

If there is no field splitting (whether because IFS is empty or the command substitution is double-quoted), it is pointless to use a loop, since there will only ever be a single word in the for-loop list. The following will yield an identical result:

Code:

i=$(find ...)

Quotes are unnecessary and the value of IFS is irrelevant since during parameter assignment field splitting and pathname expansion are bypassed (as is any operation that can yield additional fields/words).

Regards,
Alister