Hi folks, I'm having a bit of a problem ! Below is a short piece of script (mlist.sh) I'm using as a test - when I get the syntax sorted out it will be modified and used to copy files from one server to another. If I just type mlist.sh at the prompt the script lists all files in /home/mike OK but I want to use the $1 parameter to restrict listing to a particular pattern i.e. mlist.sh *.txt but when I try that I only get 1 filename reported (should be at least 10). Obviously I have a problem somewhere, anyone help ?

#!/bin/sh
#
#
#
cd /
cd /home/mike
thelist="$(ls $1)"
for fname in $thelist ; do
echo "File is $fname "
done
exit 0

Um, I've also just noticed that if the one file found has spaces in the name ( ie. Got It !.txt" output is:-

ls: Got: No such file or directory
ls: It: No such file or directory
ls: !.txt: No such file or directory

I must be doing something really wrong here !

You'll need double quotes round the $fname to avoid probs with spaces in the name.
To avoid similar probs with (spaced) filenames as an input param, change the IFS (internal field separator) to just a newline eg:
IFS='
'

Here's an alternative...

for fname in "$*"; do
echo "File is $fname "
done

Thanks Chris, changing IFS sorted out the problem of space in the filename. Strange though, the first time I ran it as mtest.sh *.txt it still only reported 1 file.... but I ran it again and it reported 5 files (which is the correct number)! :-)

I should be able to incorporate it into my full scripts now.

Thanks again