for loop over specific files in a directory using Bash

Question

In a directory you have some various files - .txt, .sh and then plan files without a .foo modifier.

If you ls the directory:

blah.txt
blah.sh
blah
blahs

How do I tell a for-loop to only use files without a .foo modify? So "do stuff" on files blah and blahs in the above example.

The basic syntax is:

#!/bin/bash
FILES=/home/shep/Desktop/test/*

for f in $FILES
do
    XYZ functions
done

As you can see this effectively loops over everything in the directory. How can I exclude the .sh, .txt or any other modifier?

I have been playing with some if statements but I am really curious if I can select for those non modified files.

Also could someone tell me the proper jargon for these plain text files without .txt?

David Kiger · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-12 01:10:06Z

44

#!/bin/bash
FILES=/home/shep/Desktop/test/*

for f in $FILES
do
if [[ "$f" != *\.* ]]
then
  DO STUFF
fi
done

answered Feb 12, 2013 at 1:10

David Kiger

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4 Comments

jon_shep Over a year ago

This works for me in a modified form. Some of my file names contain ".'s" so using \. can still select them. What is fi used for n your code? Thank you!

David Kiger Over a year ago

It's just the endif for bash (if backwards).

jon_shep Over a year ago

hmm that would be why 'done' threw an error, needed to close the if statement. Cool thanks.

lindhe Over a year ago

It would be much more helpful if you added an explanation as to why this is a solution to OP's question.

AVProgrammer · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-30 20:11:58Z

14

If you want it a little bit more complex, you can use the find-command.

For the current directory:

for i in `find . -type f -regex \.\\/[A-Za-z0-9]*`
do
WHAT U WANT DONE
done

explanation:

find . -> starts find in the current dir
-type f -> find only files
-regex -> use a regular expression
\.\\/[A-Za-z0-9]* -> thats the expression, this matches all files which starts with ./
(because we start in the current dir all files starts with this) and has only chars
and numbers in the filename.

http://infofreund.de/bash-loop-through-files/

edited Nov 30, 2015 at 20:11

AVProgrammer

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answered Aug 18, 2014 at 21:55

chris2k

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Comments

Blender · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-12 01:05:59Z

4

You can use negative wildcards? to filter them out:

$ ls -1
a.txt
b.txt
c.png
d.py
$ ls -1 !(*.txt)
c.png
d.py
$ ls -1 !(*.txt|*.py)
c.png

answered Feb 12, 2013 at 1:05

Blender

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5 Comments

jon_shep Over a year ago

Ok, but say I have a directory with more than two of them. Is there a logical way to make bash do this for me? So that it can be applied on most directories while working the same way.

Blender Over a year ago

@jon_shep: More than two of what?

jon_shep Over a year ago

file extensions. In your example you had to manually exclude them.

that other guy Over a year ago

!(*.*), and no, this is not POSIX.

chepner Over a year ago

You also need to set the extglob option for this to work: shopt -s extglob.

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