assign variable from complex command

Question

I'm trying to assign a variable using another variable that is being read in from a while and also being parsed at the same time. However, for some reason I'm not able to get the new variable to get the data i want. Any help would be appreciated.

while read line
do
    foldername=$($line | awk -F'/' '{ print $4 }')
    echo $foldername
done < folderlist.txt

folderlist.txt contains a list of directory where i'm trying to read the 4th parameter.

$line | awk -F'/' '{ print $4 }' alone is wrong. You should echo "$line" | awk -F'/' '{ print $4 }' or awk -F'/' '{ print $4 }' <<< "$line". Also, if you are getting the filename you can consider using basename $line. — fedorqui
– fedorqui, Commented May 27, 2014 at 15:56
Thanks for the quick reply! That works. I just did foldername=$(echo "$line" | awk -F'/' '{ print $4 }') — user3680518
– user3680518, Commented May 27, 2014 at 16:04

Deleted User · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-27 16:08:57Z

1

why not: awk '{ print $4 }' folderlist.txt ? The problem in your script fragment above may be that you're executing contents of $line as command, rather than merely parsing it, where you do $( $line ... | awk ... )

answered May 27, 2014 at 16:08

Deleted User

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3 Comments

user3680518 Over a year ago

Thanks! This works also. foldername=$(awk -F'/' '{ print $4 }' <<< "$line"). what i'm trying to do is get the 4th parameter..then create a new folder under a new directory using that 4th parameter.

Deleted User Over a year ago

ah, ok. then don't read whole line into one variable, but fields 1, 2, 3, 4, and rest into vars, from which you pick the var containing field 4: while read f1 f2 f3 f4 rest; do echo "yourcommands $f4"; done < folderlist.txt - no subshelling involved. changing field delimiter is done by assigning to variable IFS

Deleted User Over a year ago

foo="a/b/c/d"; IFS="/"; while read f1 f2 f3 f4; do echo $f3; done <<< "$foo" gives an idea how to use that. - this 5 minute limit on editing comments makes testing on the go a bit hard, sorry.

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