CODEWITHSUNDEEP
bashterminalvlc
Dimitris Karagiannis
Dimitris Karagiannis

Reputation: 333

Use string as argument in a bash scipt

Trying to write a script that use vlc to create a playlist.

#!/bin/bash
filename=/media/*/*.mp3
while [ "$1" != "" ]; do
   case $1 in
       -f | --filepath )       shift
                               filename=$1
                               ;;
       -h | --help )           usage
                               exit
                               ;;
       * )                     usage
                               exit 1
   esac
   shift
done
#echo $filename
vlc $filename  --novideo --quiet

This script is working but it only finds mp3 files in the root of any usb device. So i want to change the filename variable. This code gives similar results but it lists evething.

filename=$(find /media/* -name *.mp3 -print)
filename=$(tr '\n' ' ' <<<$filename)

Now the problem is that i can't pass it as an argument. I tried:

vlc $filename --novideo --quiet
or
vlc $*filename --novideo --quiet
or
vlc "$filename" --novideo --quiet

nothing worked. Any suggestions?

UPDATE:

Guys the problem I want help with is how to make vlc accept the filename variable as argument or arguments of files to use in the playlist. filename contains

/media/MULTIBOOT/Linkin Park - In The End.mp3 /media/MULTIBOOT/Man with a  
Mission ft. Takuma - Database.mp3 /media/MULTIBOOT/Sick Puppies - You're
Going Down.mp3 /media/MULTIBOOT/Skillet - Rise.mp3 /media/MULTIBOOT/Song
Riders - Be.mp3 /media/MULTIBOOT/30 Seconds to Mars - This is War.mp3  
/media/MULTIBOOT/Fade - One Reason.mp3

Now this is a string how to use it file path arguments?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 118

Answers (4)

glenn jackman
glenn jackman

Reputation: 247052

I would use bash's recursive globbing and arrays:

#!/bin/bash
shopt -s globstar nullglob
files=()
while [[ $1 ]]; do
   case $1 in
       -f | --filepath )       shift
                               files+=("$1")
                               ;;
       -h | --help )           usage
                               exit
                               ;;
       * )                     usage
                               exit 1
   esac
   shift
done
if [[ ${#files[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
    files=( /media/**/*.mp3 )
    if [[ ${#files[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
        echo "no mp3 files found"
        exit 1
    fi
fi
#printf "%s\n" "${files[@]}"
vlc "${files[@]}"  --novideo --quiet

With this code, you can specify -f filename multiple times to play a few songs.

Upvotes: 3

ghoti
ghoti

Reputation: 46876

A better way to handle options in your script might be to use getopts, if you don't mind losing the option of long options. For example:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

while getopts vqt opt; do
  case "$opt" in
    f)  filename=($OPTARG) ;;
    h)  usage; exit 0 ;;
    *)  usage; exit 1 ;;
  esac
done
shift $((OPTIND - 1))

filename=($(find /media/ -name \*.mp3 -type f))

vlc --novideo --quiet "${filename[@]}"

I don't know this usage of VLC, but the effect of this script is to create a command line with all the files found by the find command, which were stored in array called $filename.

An advantage of handling things in an array is that it lends itself to use in for loops.

for thisfile in "${filename[@]}"; do
   vlc "$thisfile" # with options to convert just one file
done

NOTE that since you're using bash, you may not need to use find at all.

shopt -s globstar
filelist=(/media/**/*.mp3)

Check man bash for discussion of globstar.

Upvotes: 1

uml&#228;ute
uml&#228;ute

Reputation: 31334

rather than storing all filenames in a variable, you can tell find to call an application with all the files. this will prevent problems with whitespace, newlines and the like:

 find /media -name '*.mp3' -exec vlc --novideo --quiet \{\} \+

Upvotes: 1

Barmar
Barmar

Reputation: 782105

You need to quote *.mp3. Otherwise it will be expanded in the current directory.

filename=$(find /media/* -name '*.mp3' -print)

You also don't need to remove the newlines. When you use the variable without quoting it, all whitespace, including newlines, will be converted to word delimiters.

Upvotes: 1

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