Quick Question

shoemoodoshaloo · 07-02-2009, 04:13 PM

Hey guys,

I looked through some replies to a few old threads and don't understand what I'm doing wrong.

I have an output directory with three files, call them:

Code:

file.bed, file.doc, file.txt

In a bash script, I need to store the name of the file with the .bed extension. I only need the name to be held as a temporary variable.

I have tried about 100 different variations of this command:

NAME=`echo directory/*.bed*`
let NAME='echo directory/*.bed*'
NAME = " 'echo directory/*.bed*' "

etc...

Can someone just put me out of my misery and help me do this simple command?

Tinkster · 07-02-2009, 04:24 PM

Your first option *should* work.

Code:

NAME=`echo directory/*.bed*`

If you're using bash/bourne/ksh, that is.

You can also try:

Code:

NAME=`ls directory/*bed`

Uncle_Theodore · 07-02-2009, 04:30 PM

What's wrong with
NAME=directory/*.bed
?
Or, you don't want the directory name in NAME?

shoemoodoshaloo · 07-02-2009, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle_Theodore

What's wrong with
NAME=directory/*.bed
?
Or, you don't want the directory name in NAME?

No I do. Do you think perhaps the problem is using *.bed* rather than *.bed?

Uncle_Theodore · 07-02-2009, 04:52 PM

Well, I'm a bit confused... Could you please elaborate? What result are you expecting and what result do you want?

shoemoodoshaloo · 07-02-2009, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle_Theodore

Well, I'm a bit confused... Could you please elaborate? What result are you expecting and what result do you want?

Sure.

Let's say again that I have three files in the directory, friends:

Code:

adam.bed, ryan.txt, dave.doc

I want a script to go into this directory, and pick out the only bed file. There will only be one, so I want the script to find "adam.bed" and save that as a variable:

Code:

variable = adam.bed

I just want the name 'adam.bed' save; I don't want the actual file itself grabbed. Later in the script I want to go into that directory and execute a python code with the input 'adam.bed' as part of the extension, but bash doesn't want to recognize my variable. For example, when I say

Code:

echo variable

The result is:

Code:

directory/*.bed

and not:

Code:

directory/adam.bed

See?

Uncle_Theodore · 07-02-2009, 06:07 PM

Hm... That's strange... Here it works perfectly:

Code:

teddy@office ~$ ls modules/ 
Makefile  Makefile~  hello.c
teddy@office ~$ NAME=modules/*c
teddy@office ~$ echo $NAME
modules/hello.c

Are you using bash as your shell? How do you pass the variable coontent to your python script? Do you use single quotes somewhere?

norobro · 07-02-2009, 07:00 PM

I think your problem is your script is not running in the directory above "/directory". Try using the full path (i.e. "/path/to/directory/*.bed*") in your script.

chrism01 · 07-03-2009, 01:22 AM

Note that single quotes prevent variable expansion/interpolation, so don't use those.