CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bash
Sagarmichael
Sagarmichael

Reputation: 1624

bash copy file where some of the filename is not known

In a bash script i want to copy a file but the file name will change over time. The start and end of the file name will however stay the same.

is there a way so i get the file like so:

  cp start~end.jar

where ~ can be anything?

the cp command would be run a a bash script on a ubuntu machine if this makes and difference.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 305

Answers (2)

Kevin
Kevin

Reputation: 56129

A glob (start*end) will give you all matching files.

Check out the Expansion > Pathname Expansion > Pattern Matching section of the bash manual for more specific control

   *      Matches any string, including the null string.
   ?      Matches any single character.
   [...]  Matches any one of the enclosed characters.  A pair of characters separated by a hyphen denotes a range expression; any character that sorts between those two characters, inclusive, using the current locale's collat-
          ing sequence and character set, is matched.  If the first character following the [ is a !  or a ^ then any character not enclosed is matched.  The sorting order of characters in range expressions  is  determined  by
          the  current locale and the value of the LC_COLLATE shell variable, if set.  A - may be matched by including it as the first or last character in the set.  A ] may be matched by including it as the first character in
          the set.

and if you enable extglob:

  ?(pattern-list)
         Matches zero or one occurrence of the given patterns
  *(pattern-list)
         Matches zero or more occurrences of the given patterns
  +(pattern-list)
         Matches one or more occurrences of the given patterns
  @(pattern-list)
         Matches one of the given patterns
  !(pattern-list)
         Matches anything except one of the given patterns

Upvotes: 4

user626607
user626607

Reputation:

Use a glob to capture the variable text:

cp start*end.jar

Upvotes: 2

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