How to print files name from... to

Question

I have to print the content of specify files from list of file as below. Date in the begining files name is changeable and the part "_lol_lol.txt" is constans.

ls
2015-01-03_lol_lol.txt
2015-01-24_lol_lol.txt
...
2015-10-23_lol_lol.txt
2015-10-24_lol_lol.txt
...
2015-11-14_lol_lol.txt 
2015-11-15_lol_lol.txt 
2015-11-16_lol_lol.txt 
2015-11-17_lol_lol.txt 
2015-11-18_lol_lol.txt 
2015-11-19_lol_lol.txt
2015-11-20_lol_lol.txt 
2015-11-21_lol_lol.txt 
2015-11-22_lol_lol.txt 
2015-11-23_lol_lol.txt 
2015-11-24_lol_lol.txt 
2015-11-25_lol_lol.txt

Every file contains some data, for the purpose of case:

cat 2015-01-03_lol_lol.txt
2015-01-03
cat 2015-01-24_lol_lol.txt
2015-01-24
...
cat 2015-10-23_lol_lol.txt
2015-10-23
cat 2015-10-24_lol_lol.txt
2015-10-24
...
cat 2015-11-14_lol_lol.txt
2015-11-14
cat 2015-11-15_lol_lol.txt
2015-11-15
...
cat 2015-11-25_lol_lol.txt
2015-11-25

And I want to print content of fles from fange "from" "to" and both "from" and "to" is variable (defined by user, depending on the needs):

2015-11-15_lol_lol.txt
2015-11-16_lol_lol.txt 
2015-11-17_lol_lol.txt

Expectet result:

2015-11-15
2015-11-16
2015-11-17

But when I use command:

for i in {"2015-11-15".."2015-11-17"};do echo  $i_lol_lol.txt ;done

Bash returns:

{2015-11-15..2015-11-17}.txt

Because like @karoshi if I use "-" whole expression is recognize like string.

I tried:

y1=2015;
y2=2015;
m1=11;
m2=11;
d=15
z=17

#for i in {${y1}..${y2}}; do
   for j in {${m1}..${m2}}; do
           for k in {${d1}..${d2}}; do
                   cat ${i}-${j}-${k}_lol_lol.txt
           done
   done
done`

But result is simmilar.

Could you help?

What sort of ranges do you need to support here? What about if a given file in the range doesn't exist? — Etan Reisner
– Etan Reisner, Commented Nov 25, 2015 at 14:18
If you want to print content files, you probably want to say cat, not echo. — fedorqui
– fedorqui, Commented Nov 25, 2015 at 14:27
@fedorqui you're right. i want to use cat not echo. @Etan Reisner ranges is whole year. — Damian Silkowski
– Damian Silkowski, Commented Nov 26, 2015 at 7:06

fedorqui · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-26 10:48:19Z

2

If you want to loop through given months and days, there is way to use the {..} syntax. Why? Because this expansion occurs even before variables are being checked, so that no variables can be stored there.

Instead, use seq, which does admit variables.

$ a=12
$ b=23
$ for i in $(seq $a $b); do echo "$i"; done
12
13
...
21
22
23

In this case, you may want to say:

Get $min_month and $max_month
Get $min_day and $max_day

And then perform a double loop:

for month in $(seq "$min_month" "$max_month");
do
    for day in $(seq "$min_day""$max_day");
    do
         cat 2015-${month}-${day}_lol_lol.txt
    done
done

edited Nov 26, 2015 at 10:48

answered Nov 25, 2015 at 14:16

fedorqui

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7 Comments

123 Over a year ago

Don't even need to do that much, for i in 2015-11-1{5,6,7}_lol_lol.txt;do echo $i;done

Damian Silkowski Over a year ago

This data range is only example. Because in this case i have to cat dates from 11-15 to 11-17 but for two days i will have to cat dates from 11-17 to 11-19.

fedorqui Over a year ago

@DamianSilkowski then update your question with a more detailed example please!

Damian Silkowski Over a year ago

@fedorqui done. I hope my description is enough for you now.

fedorqui Over a year ago

@DamianSilkowski it would be better to update explaining the logic of it ("I want to print those whose name contains X and Y") instead of pasting a full list of them. Could you edit and show that?

|

karoshi · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-25 14:17:56Z

1

Well, you could just try

for i in {15..17};do echo  2015-11-${i}_lol_lol.txt ;done

The completion doesn't work with the '-' included, because bash doesn't recognize it as an integer.

answered Nov 25, 2015 at 14:17

karoshi

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1 Comment

Damian Silkowski Over a year ago

So I have to change date format from 2015-11-15 to 2015.11.15. But what happens if the month changed, i.e. I will have to cat files from 2015-11-29 to 2015-12-03?

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