UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hello,

I have never actually created a bash script but thought I would give it a try and got hung up fast.(stupid noob). In the script I have parsed a xml file to get a bunch of file prefixs out. I am then going to check a folder to determine if a file with the correct prefix exists.

All the prefixs are stored in the variable HouseNums. $LolaLoc is the folder I am searching. I am trying to get this statement to comeback with the actual line from the ls search if a file is found but it is echoing $h whether i use = or !=. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Code:

for h in $HouseNums
do
	if [$(ls -R "$LolaLoc" | grep $h*) != ""]; then
		echo $h
	fi
done

Thank you
Dallas

grep $h*

won't work.

You need to place whatever you have assigned the h[variables] to inside a file
call it hfile.

Then

Code:

 .. | grep -f hfile

Thank you, one more question. What value would the variable have upon a empty result? I put null in here for an example. I hope the question makes sense.

Code:

for h in $HouseNums
do
	echo $h>$Tempie
	CheckFile=$(ls -R "$LolaLoc" | grep -f $Tempie)
	if ["$CheckFile" != null]; then
		echo $CheckFile
	fi
done

One answer: the return string would be of length zero ...

Code:

if [ -z "$CheckFile" ]; then
   echo $CheckFile
fi

Code:

for h in $HouseNums
do
        CheckFile=`ls -R "$LolaLoc" | grep $h`
        if [ "$CheckFile" != "" ]; then
                echo "Found: "$CheckFile
        fi    
done

Thanks everyone. sjc, it worked exactly how I wanted it to, appreciate it.