Creating files in bash from user input and a while loop

Question

I am creating a script that will take user input for a file name, and number of files to be created.

The script will then create the number of files required, and use the name given but increment the file name by one each iteration.

So lets say I want 3 files, named boogey. The output in the home folder would be; boogey1.txt, boogey2.txt and boogey3.txt.

Here is the code I have so far.

#!/bin/bash
var1=1
echo -n "Enter the number of your files to create: [ENTER]: "
read file_number
var2=file_number
echo -n "Enter the name of your file: [ENTER]: "
read file_name
var3=file_name
while [ "$var1" -le $file_number]
do 
    cat $file_name.txt
    #var1=$(( var1+1 ))
done

It generally helps to say what, specifically, you are having problems with when you ask a question. — Etan Reisner
– Etan Reisner, Commented Sep 17, 2014 at 19:02

Etan Reisner · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-17 19:02:05Z

2

Your script is almost working. You just need to:

uncomment that var1 assignment line
add a space between $file_number and ] on the while loop line
change cat to touch (or any of a number of other possibilities) since cat doesn't create files it read them.
Use $file_name$var1.txt in the cat (now touch) line to actually use the incremented index instead of the bare filename.

That being said this script could be dramatically improved. See below for an example.

#!/bin/bash

read -p 'Enter the number of your files to create: [ENTER]: ' file_number
read -p 'Enter the name of your file: [ENTER]: ' file_name

for ((i = 1; i < file_number; i++); do
    : > "$file_name$i.txt"
done

answered Sep 17, 2014 at 19:02

Etan Reisner

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