[K12OSN] OT: check case and format of filename

Rob Owens rob.owens at biochemfluidics.com
Fri Sep 26 18:17:18 UTC 2008


Nils Breunese wrote:
> Rob Owens wrote:
> 
>> Since list has been kinda slow lately, I'll test your patience with one
>> more scripting question.  You guys have really helped me learn a lot in
>> the past couple of days.  I've been looking into bash parameter
>> expansion, awk, and sed, but I'm not really sure I'm going in the right
>> direction.
>>
>> I need to check a filename for a particular "format" or "convention".
>> File names should look like this:
>>
>> AB12D89-S123--revA
>> AB12D89-S123--revA--page1
>>
>> In other words:
>>
>> 1)  They should be all uppercase and numeric before the '--'
>> 2)  They must contain '--revX', where X is any uppercase letter, and
>> 'rev' must be lowercase.
>> 3)  There is an optional --page# at the end, where # is any number, and
>> 'page' must be lowercase.
>>
>> I can work out the logic of testing for compliance with my rules, but
>> I'm not sure how to identify the case of each letter, nor how to split
>> the filename up using '--' as the divider.
>>
>> Thanks for any advice you might have.  By the way, this is to be part of
>> a bash script (which is to be run on my K12LTSP box).
> 
> Do you need a function that returns true or false depending on whether a
> string (filename) complies with the format or do you need something that
> returns all filenames in a directory that do or do not comply or
> something? Did you already figure out that you're probably looking at
> using regular expressions? http://www.regular-expressions.info/ has a
> lot of info on regular expressions.
> 
Yes, I've been learning about regular expressions.  I appreciate the
link.  More stuff to read!

I need to check one particular string for compliance with the format.  I
don't need to correct the format, I just need to inform the user that it
is incorrect.

> Hm, this is starting to feel like work. This is your last free question,
> next time I'll send you an invoice. :o)
> 
Next time, if you're willing, I'll save myself a lot of effort and pay
you to do the whole thing.

-Rob
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