UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

this is what i'm trying to do...

while test -f $newFile
echo $newFile already existed, renaming.
do
variable = 000
newFile = '$newFile.$variable'
((variable += 1))
done
echo file name is now $newFile

Q - on line five, I'm trying to append the numbers to the end of the file, someFile.000. Will this work? it that works and it does the test again and fails again, will it then change to someFile.001? or would it append to the end someFile.000.001

thnx

It will work, but without the single quotes around the variable names. You can use double quotes, or none at all. And it will append to the end (you will get 000.001).

is there a way to write over what was appended or possibly increment the file name itself?

The following example show help. Manually create two files "gg" and "gg.000" to demo.

Code:

#!/bin/ksh

newfile="gg"
stem=$newfile

typeset -i variable
variable=0
while test -f $newFile
do
   echo $newFile already existed, renaming.
   (( variable += 1 ))
   typeset -Z3 va=$variable
   newFile="$stem.$va"
done
echo file name is now $newFile