somebody knows what does this error mean?
Missing -. in google I found nothing about this
The only case where tcsh can produce that error message is when you're trying to substitute a range of words from an array variable, and the selector is syntactically incorrect.
Quoting the tcsh man page:
$name[selector]
${name[selector]}
Substitutes only the selected words from the value of name.
The selector is subjected to `$' substitution and may consist
of a single number or two numbers separated by a `-'. The
first word of a variable's value is numbered `1'. If the first
number of a range is omitted it defaults to `1'. If the last
member of a range is omitted it defaults to `$#name'. The
selector `*' selects all words. It is not an error for a range
to be empty if the second argument is omitted or in range.
For example:
$ echo $path[5-6]
/usr/sbin /usr/bin
$ echo $path[5_6]
Missing -.
Perhaps if you had followed up when you were asked for more information (like, say, some code from the failing script), it wouldn't have taken over a year to get an answer.
Related
I have a script that was very kindly provided for me a while ago which allowed me to generate input files by inserting coordinates from a series of .xyz files into a template file (Create new files by copying contents of coordinate files into template file).
I'm trying to adapt that script to do something very similar, but different in a very slight, but annoying way. In the script, the new directories created to house these new files are named like this:
# File name is in the form '....Hnnn.xyz';
# this will parse nnn from that name.
local inputNumber=$coordFile
# Remove '.xyz'.
inputNumber=${inputNumber%.xyz}
# Remove everything up to and including the 'H'.
inputNumber=${inputNumber##*H}
# Subdirectory name is based on the input number.
local outDir=$baseDir/D$inputNumber
# Create the directory if it doesn't exist.
if [[ ! -d $outDir ]]; then
mkdir $outDir
fi
This worked for my last problem, because the files were all named in the form xxxx_DH000.xyz. However, now the files I have are named using the form xxxx.000.xyz. While everything else in the script works, I cannot figure out how to name the new directories in the form 000.
The line in the script which I think needs to be edited slightly is where it says inputNumber=${inputNumber##*H}. What I cannot figure out is how to get the script to delete everything up to but not including a 0. I've searched online, but the only questions/answers I've found relating to the renaming of files by stripping part of the original names speaks about deleting everything 'up to and including' a string.
I was able to generate directories named 1, 2, 3, etc. with inputNumber=${inputNumber##*0}, however I want all three digits present (i.e. I would like create directories 001, 002, 003, etc.).
As an aside, I cannot use the . as the cutoff point, as there are multiple .s in each file name. An example of one of the file names is tma.h2s-2-pes-b97m-d4-tz.011.xyz.
Is there some way to get the script to simply name the files based on the full three digit number?
Although it's not needed in this case, zsh does support deleting text just before a matched pattern in a string. These parameter expansions will remove everything prior to the first 0 in the string, but keep the 0:
inputNumber='tma.h2s-2-pes-b97m-d4-tz.011.xyz'
inputNumber=${inputNumber:r} # remove '.xyz'
inputNumber=${(SM)inputNumber##0*}
print ${inputNumber}
# ==> 011
This includes a few zsh-isms:
${...:r} returns the 'root' of a filename, removing the extension.
(S) - parameter expansion flag to change the behavior of the ## expansion. It will now search for patterns in the middle of a string, not just at the beginning.
(M) - flag to include the pattern match (the 0*) in the result.
This depends on the number always starting with 0, which may not be a good choice - what file comes after 099?
This next version uses a zsh extended glob pattern to find a number between two periods, and returns that number - i.e. it will find the number in .11., .011., or .2345., but not in .x11.:
coordFile='tma.h2s-2-pes-b97m-d4-tz.022.xyz'
inputNumber=${(*)coordFile//(#b)*.(<->).*/${match}}
print ${inputNumber}
# ==> 022
Some of the pieces:
${...//.../...} - substitution expansion.
(*) - enables extendedglob for this expansion.
(#b) - globbing flag to enable 'backreferences', so that $match will work.
<-> - matches a number. This can be restricted to a range if needed, like <100-199>.
(<->) - puts the number into a match group.
*. and .* - everything before and after the number; these are not in the match group.
${match} - the matched string from the parenthesized part of the pattern. This is used as the replacement for the entire string, so we get just the number. If more than one part of the input string matches the pattern, this will be the last one. match is actually an array, but since there's only one match group in the pattern, it does not need to be indexed with ${match[1]}.
This variant uses a standard regular expression to find the number:
coordFile='tma.h2s-2-pes-b97m-d4-tz.033.xyz'
match=
[[ $coordFile =~ .*\\.([[:digit:]]+)\\..* ]]
inputNumber=${match[1]}
print ${inputNumber}
# ==> 033
After the [[ ]] test, the match array will contain matches from any parenthesized groups in the regular expression - here, that will be a set of one or more digits in between two periods / full stops.
But, as #choroba and Fravadona have noted, since the number will be always be at the end of the string, you can use the standard #/##/%/%% expansions to remove parts of the string based only on the .s. This is a common idiom that will be familiar to many shell programmers, and will also work in bash (note that other parts of your original script depend on zsh).
inputNumber='tma.h2s-2-pes-b97m-d4-tz.044.xyz'
inputNumber=${inputNumber%.xyz}
inputNumber=${inputNumber##*.}
print ${inputNumber}
# ==> 044
In zsh everything can be consolidated into a single nested substitution:
baseDir='files/are/here'
coordFile='tma.h2s-2-pes-b97m-d4-tz.055.xyz'
local outDir=$baseDir/D${${coordFile:r}##*.}
print $outDir
# ==> files/are/here/D055
I am trying to print the man page for ls and I am getting output in my file with repeated characters. I am relatively new to bash and I dont know where to start with this issue.
This is the command I typed
man ls | cat > file.txt
I expected output like in the terminal
DESCRIPTION
For each operand that names a file of a type other than directory, ls displays its
name as well as any requested, associated information. For each operand that names a
file of type directory, ls displays the names of files contained within that direc-
tory, as well as any requested, associated information.
If no operands are given, the contents of the current directory are displayed. If
more than one operand is given, non-directory operands are displayed first; directory
and non-directory operands are sorted separately and in lexicographical order.
The following options are available:
-# Display extended attribute keys and sizes in long (-l) output.
-1 (The numeric digit ``one''.) Force output to be one entry per line. This is
the default when output is not to a terminal.
-A List all entries except for . and ... Always set for the super-user.
-a Include directory entries whose names begin with a dot (.).
-B Force printing of non-printable characters (as defined by ctype(3) and cur-
rent locale settings) in file names as \xxx, where xxx is the numeric value
of the character in octal.
-b As -B, but use C escape codes whenever possible.
-C Force multi-column output; this is the default when output is to a terminal.
But what I got as output in my file was like this
DDEESSCCRRIIPPTTIIOONN
For each operand that names a _f_i_l_e of a type other than directory, llss
displays its name as well as any requested, associated information. For
each operand that names a _f_i_l_e of type directory, llss displays the names
of files contained within that directory, as well as any requested, asso-
ciated information.
If no operands are given, the contents of the current directory are dis-
played. If more than one operand is given, non-directory operands are
displayed first; directory and non-directory operands are sorted sepa-
rately and in lexicographical order.
The following options are available:
--## Display extended attribute keys and sizes in long (--ll) output.
--11 (The numeric digit ``one''.) Force output to be one entry per
line. This is the default when output is not to a terminal.
--AA List all entries except for _. and _._.. Always set for the super-
user.
--aa Include directory entries whose names begin with a dot (_.).
--BB Force printing of non-printable characters (as defined by
ctype(3) and current locale settings) in file names as \_x_x_x,
where _x_x_x is the numeric value of the character in octal.
--bb As --BB, but use C escape codes whenever possible.
--CC Force multi-column output; this is the default when output is to
a terminal.
--cc Use time when file status was last changed for sorting (--tt) or
What would make it do this and how can I get the man page in readable text?
Some systems have a man program which notices whether it is sending output to the terminal or to a pipe and behaves differently in each case.
For example, on ubuntu linux, man man has an option:
MAN_KEEP_FORMATTING
Normally, when output is not being directed to a terminal (such
as to a file or a pipe), formatting characters are discarded to
make it easier to read the result without special tools. How-
ever, if $MAN_KEEP_FORMATTING is set to any non-empty value,
these formatting characters are retained. This may be useful
for wrappers around man that can interpret formatting charac-
ters.
In your case, it seems that man does not behave differently when sending output to a pipe.
There may be an option to turn on the behaviour you are looking for, but it may be simpler just to strip the unwanted characters out of the output. A common method is to use col:
man ls | col -bx > file.txt
Trying to figure out how ksh is processing the construct !(text). For example,
$ echo !(hello)
produces a list of files in the current directory (similar to the output of an ls command, except it's sorted into columns rather than rows). It doesn't matter what text is in the parens, the output is the same.
Can anyone enlighten me as to what the command is actually doing? Thanks!
It echoes all files except hello. You can also use wildcards like echo !(*.java)
Here's some more detailed information. For more info, look in the "file name generation" section of the ksh man page (bash works the same way). See here for more patterns: https://www.mkssoftware.com/docs/man1/sh.1.asp
A sub-pattern begins with a ?, *, +, #, or ! character followed by a pattern-list
enclosed in parentheses. Pattern-lists themselves can contain sub-patterns.
The following list describes valid sub-patterns.
?(pattern-list)
Matches exactly zero or exactly one occurrence of the specified pattern-list.
*(pattern-list)
Matches zero or more occurrences of the specified pattern-list.
+(pattern-list)
Matches one or more occurrences of the specified pattern-list.
#(pattern-list)
Matches exactly one occurrence of the specified pattern-list.
!(pattern-list)
Matches any string that does not match the specified pattern-list.
So for your example, when the shell sees the unquoted exclamation point, followed by parenthesis it goes into file name matching mode, then it displays files in the current directory that do not match "hello".
I have file listing as the following one:
001file.jpg
003file.jpg
001-800x600-sq.jpg
001-800x600.jpg
002-800x600-sq.jpg
002-800x600.jpg
003-800x600-sq.jpg
003-800x600.jpg
004-800x531-sq.jpg
004-800x531.jpg
005-800x531-sq.jpg
005-800x531.jpg
006-800x531-sq.jpg
006-800x531.jpg
007-800x531-sq.jpg
007-800x531.jpg
008-800x1067-sq.jpg
008-800x1067.jpg
009-800x1067-sq.jpg
009-800x1067.jpg
010-800x533-sq.jpg
010-800x533.jpg
011-800x1200-sq.jpg
011-800x1200.jpg
012-800x533-sq.jpg
012-800x533.jpg
013-800x600-sq.jpg
013-800x600.jpg
014-800x1067-sq.jpg
014-800x1067.jpg
015-800x533-sq.jpg
015-800x533.jpg
016-800x533-sq.jpg
016-800x533.jpg
In ZSH, I want to list all files beginning with any number, not containing dash in filename, so I tried:
print -l <->[^-]*.jpg
with no success. What is wrong with this pattern!?
This is, I think, similar to the case that the documentation for <-> warns about:
Be careful when using other wildcards adjacent to patterns of this form; for example, <0-9>* will actually match any number whatsoever at the start of the string, since the `<0-9>' will match the first
digit, and the `*' will match any others. This is a trap for the unwary, but is in fact an inevitable
consequence of the rule that the longest possible match always succeeds. Expressions such as
`<0-9>[^[:digit:]]*' can be used instead.
In print -l <->[^-]*.jpg, the <-> matches the first digit, then [^-] matches the 2nd digit, and * matches everything thing else.
Use instead
print -l <->[^[:digit:]-]*.jpg
I found syntax like below.
${VARIABLE##*/}
what is the meaning of ##*/ in this?
I know meaning of */ in ls */ but not aware about what above syntax does.
This example will make it clear:
VARIABLE='abcd/def/123'
echo "${VARIABLE#*/}"
def/123
echo "${VARIABLE##*/}"
123
##*/ is stripping out longest match of anything followed by / from start of input.
#*/ is stripping out shortest match of anything followed by / from start of input.
PS: Using all capital variable names is not considered very good practice in Unix shell. Better to use variable instead of VARIABLE.
From man bash:
${parameter#word}
${parameter##word}
Remove matching prefix pattern. The word is expanded to produce
a pattern just as in pathname expansion. If the pattern matches
the beginning of the value of parameter, then the result of the
expansion is the expanded value of parameter with the shortest
matching pattern (the ``#'' case) or the longest matching pat‐
tern (the ``##'' case) deleted. If parameter is # or *, the
pattern removal operation is applied to each positional parame‐
ter in turn, and the expansion is the resultant list. If param‐
eter is an array variable subscripted with # or *, the pattern
removal operation is applied to each member of the array in
turn, and the expansion is the resultant list.