2

I have an array that contains a list of filenames (without extension) ex: 

filearray=("fileA" "fileB" "fileC")

These files are split amongst multiple directories. As I loop through the directories, I would like to perform an operation on the files from the array that are present in each directory. How can I use find or grep with an array?

Can I do something like this?:

Dirarray= ("dirA" "dirB")
for Dir in "${Dirarray[@]}"; do
    cd "$Dir";
    for file in "${filearray[@]}"; do
        if find . -regextype posix-extended -regex "$file"; then;
            do X;
        fi;
     done
done

Thanks!

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  • 1
    You just answered your won question in the question? Or are you having some trouble with your script? (PS: you probably need to cd back after cd "$Dir" or use subshell) Commented Oct 6, 2016 at 22:00
  • @grochmal It looks fine to me without another cd. I corrected readability. One done was missing. Commented Oct 6, 2016 at 22:08
  • Sorry, I didn't say: the find statement doesn't work with the array element Commented Oct 7, 2016 at 19:02

1 Answer 1

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2

I would do it in a different way.

Dirarray= ("dirA" "dirB")
for Dir in "${Dirarray[@]}"; do
    cd "$Dir"
    for file in "${filearray[@]}"; do
# Here a change. If "$file" exists...
        if [[ -e "$file"]]; then
            : # do something
        fi
     done
done

See man test for more file test options.

The reason is this way is much more simple. Well, as long as the array doesn't contain regexes.

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1
  • Also, ${filearray[@]/#/$Dir/} instead of the cd. Commented Dec 19, 2018 at 20:55

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