we can have the /tmp/file.1 or /tmp/file.43.434 or /tmp/file-hegfegf , and so on
so how we can verify in bash if any /tmp/file* exists ?
we try as
[[ -f "/tmp/file*" ]] && echo "file exists"
but above not work
how to fix it?
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yael
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If you use quotes, the literal "file*" is tested and returns false. If unquoted, the `file*` could expand to more than one arguments, which is not allowed for the `-f` operator. – thanasisp May 26 '22 at 11:14
1 Answers
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I would use either find or a for loop to identify this situation.
Example #1 with find (using GNU extensions to limit the search space):
# First try with no matching files
[ -n "$(find /tmp/file* -maxdepth 1 -type f -print -quit)" ] && echo yes || echo no # "no"
# Create some matching files and try the same command once more
touch /tmp/file.1 /tmp/file.43.434 /tmp/file-hegfegf
[ -n "$(find /tmp/file* -maxdepth 1 -type f -print -quit)" ] && echo yes || echo no # "yes"
Example #2 with for loop
found=
for file in /tmp/file*
do
[ -f "$file" ] && found=yes && break
done
[ yes = "$found" ] && echo yes || echo no # No files "no", otherwise "yes"
roaima
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OP didn't specify if *file* is a regular file, though can be assumed. – schrodingerscatcuriosity May 26 '22 at 11:24
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@schrodigerscatcuriosity I think an example of `[[ -f "/tmp/file*" ]]` makes it pretty clear they're considering only _files_ – roaima May 26 '22 at 11:29
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@roaima Ideed, I interpreted the question, not the example. – schrodingerscatcuriosity May 26 '22 at 15:15
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@Kusalananda yes also. I hadn't considered that, but I do see it's one of the suggestions on the proposed duplicate (not a bad match, by the way) – roaima May 26 '22 at 15:20