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Selecting strings with - as first character in bash

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# 1  
Old 03-30-2012
Selecting strings with - as first character in bash
I have a variable containing a list of strings, and want to create a string with the first character being -.

Example:
Code:
var="-name fred paul -surname winnett dimech"

I want a string, namely
Code:
errStr="-name -surname"

# 2  
Old 03-30-2012
try this
Code:
errStr=`echo $var | tr  -s " " "\n" | grep - | tr "\n" " "`

# 3  
Old 03-30-2012
Quote:
Originally Posted by kristinu
I have a variable containing a list of strings, and want to create a string with the first character being -.

Example:
Code:
var="-name fred paul -surname winnett dimech"

I want a string, namely
Code:
errStr="-name -surname"


There's no need for any external command:
Code:
var="-name fred paul -surname winnett dimech"
errStr=
for word in $var
do
  case $word in
    -*) errStr=${errStr:+"$errStr "}$word ;;
  esac
done

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