[ILUG] sorting filenames ?

[Brian Foster]

  | Date: Tue, 1 May 2007 15:14:37 +0100
  | From: "Declan Grady" <declan.grady at nuvotem.com>
  |[ ... ]
  | for i in `cat $TEMPFILENAME | awk 'BEGIN {FS="_"}{print $1"_"$2}' | sort -u`
  | do
  |     $ADDTIFFFILES `cat $TEMPFILENAME | grep $i\_` $i.tif
  |     $CONVERTTOPDF $i.tif >$i.pdf
  |     # do some other stuff
  | done

 as an aside, this wins a Useless Use of cat Award™.
 awk(1) can read files.
 so the `cat ... | awk ... | sort -u` backticked(!)
 pipe can also be written as:

   $( awk -F_ -- '{ print $1 "_" $2 }' "$TEMPFILENAME" | sort -u )

 note I've also used the -F option to set FS (rather
 then the BEGIN action, just to make the line a bit
 more readable (IMHO)), both the -- end-of-options
 maker and a "quoted" filename as safety precautions,
 and the much-more-readable $( ... ) notation rather
 than the obsolete `back ticks`.

 ( I've also inserted a few (spurious) spaces for
  readability, albeit the original is Ok (IMHO). )

 as an exercise to the reader, the grep can also be
 improved somewhat.  however, since there are some
 strong assumptions being made about the contents
 of $TEMPFILENAME, it is, to some extent, pointless.

 apologies, this question just caught me in a very-
 annoyed-at-some-scripts mood .....  ;-\
cheers!
	-blf-
-- 
▶ ▶  I AM CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR A JOB!  ◀ ◀ | Brian Foster
Experienced (>25 yrs) software engineer:    |        Montpellier, FRANCE
 • Unix, Linux, embedded, design-for-test;  | Stop E$$o (ExxonMobile)!
 • Software/hardware co-design, debugging;  |     http:/www.stopesso.com
 • Kernels, drivers, filesystems, &tc;    Résumé (CV) & contact details:
 • IDL, automated testing, process, &tc.   http://www.blf.utvinternet.ie