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1

I am new to bash script. I am taking some input from user and checking details about that.

Example:

$HOME/Documents/test/one.txt

I take the above string as an input and want to retrieve one.txt, I need to further proceed with one.txt.

I am not putting up the whole question as I want to put inputs from my side.

I am stuck at this point and without splitting up the string, I will not be able to move ahead.

share|improve this question
    
You really should just ask your real question. –  bahamat Oct 9 '13 at 5:06
    
@bahamat I want to get one.txt from input. –  Death Metal Oct 9 '13 at 5:07

3 Answers 3

up vote 4 down vote accepted

@Jordanm has already given you the canonical answer that works for any string. If you are dealing specifically with paths, you can also use the programs basename and dirname:

   basename - strip directory and suffix from filenames
   dirname - strip last component from file name

For example:

$ file="$HOME/Documents/test/one.txt"
$ dir=$(dirname "$file");
$ name=$(basename "$file");
$ echo "The file called $name is in the directory $dir"
The file called one.txt is in the directory /home/terdon/Documents/test
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up vote 4 down vote

This is a common task that can be handled by a parameter expansion in any POSIX shell.

path=$HOME/Documents/test/one.txt
file=${path##*/} # file contains one.txt

Another common method is to use the basename program.

file=$(basename "$path")

The only disadvantage is having to spawn an external program. It's main advantage is that it properly handles paths with a trailing /.

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1  
To be pedantic, "$(basename "$path")" is wrong in the unlikely event that $path ends with a newline. This is because a) basename adds an extra newline on the end, and b) $(command) strips all trailing newlines. To make it work requires a perverse workaround, something like this: path=$'/tmp/evil\n'; file="$(basename "$path"; printf x)"; strip=$'\nx'; fixed="${file%%$strip}" –  Matt Oct 9 '13 at 6:04
up vote 0 down vote

If you're doing this with filenames, use the basename command:

$ basename $HOME/Documents/test/one.txt
one.txt

Further:

$ FILE=$(basename basename $HOME/Documents/test/one.txt)
$ echo $FILE
one.txt

If you need to split arbitrary strings with arbitrary delimiters it's a little bit of magic. Read the string into an array and set the input field separator to the delimiter.

Here's an example:

$ IFS='/' read -a my_array <<< "$HOME/Documents/test/one.txt"
$ ARRAY_LENGTH=$(( ${#my_array[@]} - 1 ))
$ echo "${my_array[$ARRAY_LENGTH]}"
one.txt
share|improve this answer
    
Thank you for your inputs! :) –  Death Metal Oct 10 '13 at 4:20

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