How to check the extension of a filename in a bash script?

Admin 1
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I am writing a nightly build script in bash.
Everything is fine and dandy except for one little snag:


#!/bin/bash

for file in "$PATH_TO_SOMEWHERE"; do
      if [ -d $file ]
      then
              # do something directory-ish
      else
              if [ "$file" == "*.txt" ]       #  this is the snag
              then
                     # do something txt-ish
              fi
      fi
done;

My problem is determining the file extension and then acting accordingly. I know the issue is in the if-statement, testing for a txt file.

How can I determine if a file has a .txt suffix?

scripting file bash
10 Answers

Make 

if [ "$file" == "*.txt" ]

like this:

if [[ $file == *.txt ]]

That is, double brackets and no quotes.

The right side of == is a shell pattern. If you need a regular expression, use =~ then.

Admin1

I think you want to say "Are the last four characters of $file equal to .txt?" If so, you can use the following:

if [ "${file: -4}" == ".txt" ]

Note that the space between file: and -4 is required, as the ':-' modifier means something different.

Paul_Stephenson_55360

You just can't be sure on a Unix system, that a .txt file truly is a text file. Your best bet is to use "file". Maybe try using:

file -ib "$file"

Then you can use a list of MIME types to match against or parse the first part of the MIME where you get stuff like "text", "application", etc.

Ubersoldat_488690

You can use the "file" command if you actually want to find out information about the file rather than rely on the extensions.

If you feel comfortable with using the extension you can use grep to see if it matches.

Adam_Peck_266580

Another important detail, you don't use else with another if inside:

else
    if [ "$file" == "*.txt" ]       
    #  this is the snag
    then
    # do something txt-ish
fi

instead:

elif [ "$file" == "*.txt" ]       
    #  this is the snag
then
    # do something txt-ish
fi

else is used when there's nothing else left > do > thatcommand

just because you can do something that doesn't necessarily means you should always do it

user_56176770
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