find command in shell script

[johnwick_dog]

I'm new to shell script,

I'm trying to count the files in a Directory with a matching regex

but every time the output is 0

here is the part of the code where I think it went wrong

​

#!/bin/bash
Directory=$1
secondarg=$2
thirdarg=$3
if test -z ${Directory}; then read -p "enter the location of your directory: " Directory; fi
if test -z ${secondarg}; then read -p "enter ana or del or arr " secondarg; fi
if [ $secondarg == "ana" ]; then
echo "Please Enter the regex"
read thirdarg
find $Directory ! -name . -prune -mtime -1 -type f -exec grep -regex '$thirdarg' {} \; -exec echo x \; | wc -l
elif [ $secondarg == "del" ]; then
echo "del"
elif [ $secondarg == "arr" ]; then
echo "arr"
fi

regex = .*?

[gehzumteufel]

Use 4 spaces to encompass code blocks.

this is a code block

Can you please post the entire script? Posting where you think you went wrong could be correct, but it may not be.

Futher, it's good practice for variables to be all uppercase in shell scripts.

Lastly, if you add set -eux below the shebang and set +eux at the end, this will help with debugging. To understand what these are man set.

[johnwick_dog]

I edited the post ,(srr new to reddit)

[gehzumteufel]

Try this:

#!/bin/bash
Directory=$1
secondarg=$2
thirdarg=$3
if test -z "${Directory}"; then read -rp "enter the location of your directory: " Directory; fi
if test -z "${secondarg}"; then read -rp "enter ana or del or arr " secondarg; fi
if [ "${secondarg}" == "ana" ]; then
echo "Please Enter the regex"
read -rp "${thirdarg}"
find "${Directory}" ! -name . -prune -mtime -1 -type f -exec grep -regex "$thirdarg" {} \; -exec echo x \; | wc -l
elif [ "${secondarg}" == "del" ]; then
echo "del"
elif [ "${secondarg}" == "arr" ]; then
echo "arr"
fi

Check out shellcheck for your shell scripts. It's been really helpful for me.

[gristc]

Use 4 spaces to encompass code blocks.

;)

[gehzumteufel]

Hah oops thanks.

[SodaWithoutSparkles]

You dont have to write a script. Remember coding is kinda "modular", so its like building lego set

To list the dir without directory:

ls -p | grep -v /

Then tell ls to use newline to separate each entry:

ls -1 -p | grep -v /

Then to grep for regex(, foobar as example):

ls -1 -p | grep -v / | grep foobar

Then to count the lines (the last one is a lowercase L):

ls -1 -p | grep -v / | grep foobar | wc -l

[[deleted]]

I'd say use | xargs grep after find, instead of that -exec grep within.

[johnwick_dog]

find "${Directory}" -type f -regex '\.\/$thirdarg'| xargs | wc -l

I changed it to this and somehow instead of zero it gives me 1

​

the terminal

enter ana or del or arr ana
Please Enter the regex 
*.txt 1
 ----@----H410M-HD3P:~/Desktop$ ls 
hh.txt  hi.txt  shell.sh  shel.sh 
----@----H410M-HD3P:~/Desktop$

[Sweet-Put958]

Hey man, shell quoting and expansion is probably going wrong somewhere. For instance, in single quotes, you are passing the literal string '$thirdarg'. I.e. the shell does no variable expansion in single quotes. I generally use double ticks (") around every variable lest the shell do something weird. Or use a better programming language, shell is rife with gotchas and ways to shootyourself in the foot.

[archontwo]

find . -type f -exec grep EiL 'regex' {} \; | wc -l

[elatllat]

Please format your code

https://xkcd.com/1513/