[SOLVED] help explain my error in this array for BASH

Snark1994 · 09-17-2012, 08:51 AM

What shell are you using to run the commands? The difference seems to be in the 'find' command - in the first case (running on the shell) the globs are expanded in the 'move_files' line, while in the second one, they seem to be expanded on the 'find' line.

The issue (I think) is where you have some globs that match and some that don't. The behaviour can be seen here (my normal shell is zsh:

Code:

[joshua:~]$ cd test
[joshua:~/test]$ ls
$0          4file.bash  a.out   client.py         index.html    list.txt        nuevo-focus.html         ruby        sudoers      test2.cpp  test.cpp  test.txt  uniq.o
1file.bash  5file.bash  bash    downloadurls.txt  index.html.1  login.bash      nuevo-focus.html.backup  scipt.bash  sudoers.bak  test2.rb   test.hs   uniq      working.txt
2file.bash  $90.880     bob.sh  email             index.html.2  log.txt         ped.rc                   server.py   temp.sh      test2.sh   test.py   uniq.hi
3file.bash  $920        c++     gtk.cpp           input.txt     notworking.txt  php                      style.css   test         test.awk   test.sh   uniq.hs
[joshua:~/test]$ move_files=( *.bash *.foo )
zsh: no matches found: *.foo
[joshua:~/test]$ find "${move_files[@]}"
find: cannot search `': No such file or directory
[joshua:~/test]$ echo ${move_files[@]}

[joshua:~/test]$ bash
[joshua@joshua-desktop test]$ move_files=( *.bash *.foo )
[joshua@joshua-desktop test]$ find "${move_files[@]}"
1file.bash
2file.bash
3file.bash
4file.bash
5file.bash
login.bash
scipt.bash
find: `*.foo': No such file or directory
[joshua@joshua-desktop test]$ echo ${move_files[@]}
1file.bash 2file.bash 3file.bash 4file.bash 5file.bash login.bash scipt.bash *.foo
[joshua@joshua-desktop test]$

grail · 09-17-2012, 09:35 AM

I am with Snark in that it may be best to test when the variables / globs are being expanded. Try placing some echoes in the script to see what is stored in the move_files array?

Sorry I missed the output previously, I did not notice there was a scroll on the side

I would also mention that running the code with sh may also cause some of the bash only options to not function properly.
Try also making the file executable and running it that way. You can place set -xv as the second line to follow the output

lleb · 09-17-2012, 03:25 PM

sorry, not ignoring your posts, just real busy at work today.

fyi we are just in a bash profile, but our terminal is scoansi. not sure if that helps atm.

Snark1994 · 09-18-2012, 04:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grail

I would also mention that running the code with sh may also cause some of the bash only options to not function properly.

Good spot - I'm not sure if it's what grail meant, but when you execute the script, you do it with 'sh', not 'bash' (despite the #! at the start of the script) so you are effectively executing it with two different shells.

Try running

Code:

bash -xvv DEA2-MOVE

instead.

Hope this helps,