Hi,
I am not understanding the working of the following pattern matching commands :

I want to list files in the current directory that matches a specific pattern.

Here is what i have

(1)ls 0000000[1-5].jpg

00000001.jpg 00000002.jpg 00000003.jpg 00000004.jpg 00000005.jpg

Then why are the following commands not working?

(2)ls 00000[001-005].jpg
ls: cannot access 00000[001-005].jpg: No such file or directory

(3)ls [00000001-00000005].jpg
ls: cannot access [00000001-00000005].jpg: No such file or directory

(4)ls [00000001-00000005]*.jpg
(This lists all files in directory without regard to the pattern)

Can anybody help me out in understanding the problem in the above commands.I am using /bin/bash

thanks in advance
lin

hi,
i think i understand the problem while framing the question!!!

within [],it matches any single charachter only.
so if i want to get files between 00000001.jpg and 00000005.jpg
i should give 0000000[1-5].jpg only.

I got it confused between {..} expansion,I think.

I am not sure how the below case works though.

(4)ls [00000001-00000005]*.jpg
(This lists all files in directory without regard to the pattern)


Now,how do i get a pattern for listing all files between(and including) 00000001.jpg and 00000716.jpg
I tried

ls 00000[0-7]?[0-6].jpg

But this wont list files like 00000019.jpg, 00000708.jpg etc.

thanks in advance.
lin

try this, create a bash script.

open your favorite editor, use nano, vi or whichever editor you prefer.

copy and paste the code below to your favorite text editor.

after pasting the code save it with a ".sh" file name extension such as "lxx.sh"

after saving the code and exiting from the editor.

type this at your terminal: chmod +x lxx.sh


create myoutput.txt file or whatever file name you want.

if you want to use other file name, please change the variable on the script also.

to run the script, make sure it's already executable and the output file you already have created or else there will be an error.

here's the code snippet, hope it helps

You are on the right track, bracket expansion does match one character at a time. So to get all files 00000001.jpg and 00000716.jpg inclusive, you can do:

http://www.tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginne...ect_04_02.html

Thankyou JJJCR and GNU/Linux for your help.

Suppose the directory contains files starting from say 00000001.jpg to 00001000.jpg
I want to select files between/including 00000001.jpg and 00000716.jpg
The command `ls 00000[0-7][0-9][0-6]` also lists files like 00000756.jpg which is unwanted.

I solved it later using ls {00000001..00000716}.jpg

{start_range..end_range} that's why it works

That works does it??? I am wondering how it will go matching 00000009.jpg? I believe this is between your criteria numbers but will never be matched.