Array with "long file name".

[santanudas]

Hi Guys,

I was trying to use the output of "ls" command to fill an array with. This is the sample code I'm using:

#!/bin/bash
#
cd /Volumes
PART=( `ls` )

echo; echo "Directory listing:"
echo "------------------"; ls

echo; echo "The array using ls:"
echo "----------------------"
ix=0
  while [ ${ix} -lt ${#PART[@]} ]; do
  echo "($[${ix}+1])  ${PART[${ix}]}"
   let ix=ix+1
done
echo

You know what I mean – the windows type file names with space(s) in it. Say e.g. If the file name is "xyz mn", the array gets two elements - "xyz" and "mn" instead of one. I tried using a '\' for each space and also tried "double quote" but didn't work. This is what I get if I run the script:


Directory listing:
------------------
Documents OSX Programs Projects HD

The array using ls:
----------------------
(1) Documents
(2) OSX
(3) Programs
(4) Projects
(5) HD

"ls" showing the correct output at the top but in stead of 4, the array is being made of 5 elements i.e. treating "Projects" and "HD" separately. Can any one please help solving this? I thank all of you in advance. cheers!!!

 

[stefanwagner]

try

ls -Q

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http://home.arcor.de/hirnstrom/bewerbung

 

[santanudas]

stefanwagner, thanks for replying. But sadly, it doesn't work either. Now the output becomes rather funny.

Directory listing:
------------------
"Documents" "OSX" "Programs" "Projects HD"

The array using ls:
----------------------
(1) "Documents"
(2) "OSX"
(3) "Programs"
(4) "Projects
(5) HD"

Another thing is that -Q option is not available in everywhere, e.g. BSD/OS X to name one. I don't think it's that hard to make it work. I do believe that anyone of you must me knowing thw wrong thing I'm doing here. Cheers!!!

 

[stefanwagner]

Do you really need arrays?
This works with blanks in filenames for me:

for f in * ; do echo $f ; done

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[santanudas]

Do you really need arrays?

Unfortunately yes. This is something I've to end up with in the end:

#!/bin/bash
#
cd /Volumes
# We just need the directories *NOT* the files.
PART=( `ls -d */ | sed 's/\///g'` );

echo; echo "Select one from the list:"
echo "----------------------"
ix=0
  while [ ${ix} -lt ${#PART[@]} ]; do
  echo "($[${ix}+1])  ${PART[${ix}]}"
  let ix=ix+1
done

echo "----------------------------"
echo -n "Select ( `jot -s " / " ${#PART[@]}` ): "
read -n 1 NEW_LOC; echo ""; echo ""
echo

and as you see, it will give you 5 options, in stead of 4 (in this case) to choose one from, which is totally wrong. There are several other things also work with a blank/white space in the file name but I'm stuck putting then on the list properly.

 

[TonyGroves]

You could temporarily replace the embedded spaces with some other character that you know will not be used in filenames. For example, the following will change spaces to ~ characters:
[tt]
PART=$(ls -1 | sed 's/ /~/g')
[/tt]
Of course, you will have to change the ~s back to spaces before processing each individual filenames.

Alternatively, you could just use a different scripting language, like Perl.

 

[santanudas]

You could temporarily replace the embedded spaces with some other character that you know will not be used in filenames.

That idea seems to be working. Though, I didn't achieve the thing I wanted to but I guess, now I know what to do. Many thanks!!!