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Old 04-25-2006, 01:59 PM   #1
drkstr
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Registered: Feb 2006
Location: Seattle, WA: USA
Distribution: Slackware 11.0
Posts: 1,191

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help with bash script: remove * to the last . in string


Hello, I finally decided to sit down and learn how to write scripts in bash so I wrote one to encode any video files in a directory to DIVx using mencoder. I wanted it to only touch valid video files by checking the suffix at the end of the file. I used FILESUF=${file#*.} to remove everything but the suffix. I ran into a problem with files that have multiple '.'s in the name. Is there a way to start at the end of the sting going backwards and remove everything after (and including) the first '.' it finds? THanks for the help!

Here is the full code for anyone that's interested:
Code:
#!/bin/bash
#  Converts all video in a directory to DIVx5.0
#  Uses the "mencoder" binary from the "mplayer" package,

SUFFIX=avi          # New filename suffix. 
VALIDSUF=(mpg mpeg mjpeg mv rm rmvb asf mov)  #removed wmv as it does not convert well
element_count=${#VALIDSUF[@]}

#process arguments
case "$1" in
 --help | -h)
  echo "Use encodedivx to encode all video media in a directory to the DIVx5.0 codec format"
  echo
  echo "Usage: encodedivx <directory>"
  echo "will assume current directory if none specified"
  exit 1
   ;;
 */)  #directory argument?
  DIR=$1
  ;;
 *)   #default
  if [ -n "$1" ]   #argument is given but invalid
   then
    echo "Usage: encodedivx <directory>"
    exit 1
   else        #use current DIR if non specified
    DIR=$PWD 
    echo DIR=$PWD
  fi
esac  

echo "Encode all video files in $DIR?: {Y|N}"
read VERIFY

while true  #loop until valid input for $VERIFY
do
 case "$VERIFY" in
  "Y" | "y")
   for file in $DIR/*    #check files in $DIR
   do
    FILENAME=${file%.*}  #break up filename
    FILESUF=${file#*.}
    i=0
    while [ "$i" -lt "$element_count" ]   #check if suffix is valid
    do
     if [ "${VALIDSUF[$i]}" == "$FILESUF" ]  #if valid, encode
     then
      echo
      mencoder $file -ovc lavc -oac lavc -ffourcc DX50 -o $FILENAME.$SUFFIX
     fi
     let "i=$i+1"  #check next suffix
    done
   done
   break
   ;;
  "N" | "n")
   echo "Quiting..."
   exit 1
   ;;
  *)   #invalid input for $VERIFY
   echo "Encode all video files in $DIR?: {Y|N}"
   read VERIFY
 esac
done


exit 0
I would be more then happy to hear any suggestions on how to improve this. This was my first attempt at a shell script and it seems kind of clunky to me.

thanks!
...drkstr

Last edited by drkstr; 04-25-2006 at 02:04 PM.
 
Old 04-25-2006, 02:03 PM   #2
Hobbletoe
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Registered: Sep 2004
Location: Dayton, Oh
Distribution: Linux Mint 17
Posts: 150

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To remove everything until the last period, you'll need the ## ...

Code:
${file##*.}
 
Old 04-25-2006, 02:11 PM   #3
drkstr
Senior Member
 
Registered: Feb 2006
Location: Seattle, WA: USA
Distribution: Slackware 11.0
Posts: 1,191

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 45
that was a lot more simple then I thought, thanks for the help! While I'm at it, is there a better way to check if something exists in an array instead of looping though and checking each element? Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

thanks!
...drkstr
 
Old 04-25-2006, 04:54 PM   #4
ioerror
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Registered: Sep 2005
Location: Old Blighty
Distribution: Slackware, NetBSD
Posts: 536

Rep: Reputation: 34
Quote:
is there a better way to check if something exists in an array instead of looping though and checking each element?
Not with an array. You'd need to use an associative array (hash table), but bash doesn't have associative arrays (zsh does though).
 
  


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