Shell Programming and Scripting

So this is what the script I am running looks like:

Code:

$word_new=catdog12
while [$word_new -le catdog*]
        do
             x=1
            $word_new=`ls -l $1* | cut -d"." -f$x`
            x=$((x+1))
        done

my question is, does the asterisks in this loop also includes stuff after catdog when trying to match $word_new with? Like there is stuff after catdog like numbers and and there are several catdog files in the directory. $word_new=catdog12 and the loop is going to keep going until $word_new equals catdog*

If it does what would be a better solution?

PS - I know its hard to understand because its hard for me to explain my problem haha

This has several syntax errors:

Code:

while [$word_new -le catdog*]

The [ and ] characters have to have spaces around them because they are treated like "keywords"

-le does not work on string characters.

Without showing us code, what are you trying to do, look for more catdog* filenames
that have numbers less than equal to 12? Some shells can do file pattern matching for you.

What shell are you using?

Please post a sample directory listing, followed by a sample listing of which files you want to select, and a brief description of the rule.