Non-numerical for loop in bash?

kdar · 2012-05-10 01:36:39

How can I write non-numerical for loop in bash?

for example.. I want something like this....

for cName in ('bzip2' 'bunzip2' 'gzip' 'gunzip')
do
    time $cName -kf $filename
done

instead of writing this...

time bzip2 -kf $filename
time bunzip2 -kf $filename
time gzip -kf $filename
time gunzip -kf $filename

Can this be done? (I have larger set of tools I want to run that have same flags and stuff like that in the end... not just 4)

Last edited by kdar (2012-05-10 02:03:12)

falconindy · 2012-05-10 01:52:17

Sure, just get rid of the parenthesis. Please quote properly to save yourself some headaches in the future.

Last edited by falconindy (2012-05-10 01:52:51)

kdar · 2012-05-10 02:02:58

Thanks.

Is it better to use double quotes?

Last edited by kdar (2012-05-10 02:10:49)

/dev/zero · 2012-05-10 02:27:21

kdar wrote:

Thanks.
Is it better to use double quotes?

I think Falconindy meant to put double quotes around the variables when you use them. Think about what would happen if $filename had a space in it. Try running these two examples:

filename="foo bar"
for i in $filename; do
    echo $i
done

filename="foo bar"
for i in "$filename"; do
    echo $i
done

Arch Linux

#1 2012-05-10 01:36:39

Non-numerical for loop in bash?

#2 2012-05-10 01:52:17

Re: Non-numerical for loop in bash?

#3 2012-05-10 02:02:58

Re: Non-numerical for loop in bash?

#4 2012-05-10 02:27:21

Re: Non-numerical for loop in bash?

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