UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

How could I check if a numeric variable has 5 digits in KSH...I have a zipcode variable that I know will always be 5 digits, and I want to print out an error if it is less or more than 5 digits the problem is that I have it as:
if [[ $zipcode -gt 99999 || $zipcode -lt 00001 ]]
but this won't work because the statement doesn't see 0001 as being less than 00001...pls help.

you are looking for "wc -m". this counts the characters in an input.

for example:

Code:

$ echo 11111 | wc -m
   6

its always +1 for the return character!

DukeNuke2,

You misread the question, he searches for exact 5 digits. Try this:

Code:

grep "[^0-9][0-9]\{5\}[^0-9]"

Regards

Or even

Code:

case $var in ?????) continue;; *) yikes; oops; er um --whoa;; esac

Change ? to [0-9] to check that all characters are numerical, while you're at it.

I hope you know that if your audience is international, "ZIP code" is not very universal.