UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I am running it from the Lawson Desktop client..via a script

From your output

Code:

ls -1 *\*\*\HOSPCHK* | awk -F. '{ print NF $2}'

2xxx/xxxx/xxxx/HOSPCHK020111
3xxx/xxxx/xxxx/HOSPCHK020111

The 2 and 3 to begin tell me there is a . (period) elsewhere in that output (and maybe more than one). You are xxx 'ing it out, so I can't be sure.

Is this true?

Yes sorry for the confusion...the first sub directory is med_nathon.johnson/pp155/1/HOSPCHK020111 there is a period between the nathon and the johnson...which isn't consistent with the other sub directories...some have no period just first name last name

Can you cut/paste output from

Code:

ls -1 *\*\*\HOSPCHK*

into a post?
Keep . and other special characters! Letters can be changed to x or whatever.
About ten lines should be sufficient.

I struggled to get this far only to learn that your hidden characters had stuff I did not expect; so want to know what to expect.

Command:

Code:

ls -1 *\*\*\HOSPCHK*

Results:
There are only two files that meet the criteria at this current time:

Code:

xxx_xxxxx.xxxxxx/ap155/1/HOSPCHK020111
xxx_xxxxx.xxxxxx/ap155/1/HOSPCHK020111.dtl

awk matching on period has special meaning, hence my having to TR the input and output.

Code:

$ cat sample6.txt
xxx_xxxxx.xxxxxx/ap155/1/HOSPCHK020111
xxx_xxxxx.xxxxxx/ap155/1/HOSPCHK020111.dtl
xxx_xxxxx_xxxxxx/ap155/1/HOSPCHK020111
xxx_xxxxx_xxxxxx/ap155/1/HOSPCHK020111.dtl

$ cat sample6.txt | tr "." "~" | awk -F"/" '{if (match($NF,"~")==0) print $0}' | tr "~" "."
xxx_xxxxx.xxxxxx/ap155/1/HOSPCHK020111
xxx_xxxxx_xxxxxx/ap155/1/HOSPCHK020111

For my benefit, please post some background information about this environment. Particularly describing the usage of the backslash character in the context of unix directory trees.

It would help if you posted a real directory tree produced by a conventional unix command (stating what you typed).

Throughout the whole of this thread I have wondered "why the backslash?". In unix script the backslash "\" protects a character from interpretation by the Shell. It is not the same as a MSDOS directory tree separator "\". The unix directory separator is a solidus character "/".