bash script, create array of all files in a directory

Question

I have a directory myDir of many .html files. I am trying to create an array of all the files in the directory so I might be able to index the array and be able to refer to particular html files in the directory. I have tried the following line:

myFileNames=$(ls ~/myDir)

for file in $myFileNames; 
#do something

but I want to be able to have a counter variable and have logic like the following:

 while $counter>=0;
   #do something to myFileNames[counter]

I am quite new to shell scripting and am unable to figure out how to achieve this hence would appreciate any help regarding this matter.

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2020-09-01 09:32:17Z

66

You can do:

# use nullglob in case there are no matching files
shopt -s nullglob

# create an array with all the filer/dir inside ~/myDir
arr=(~/myDir/*)

# iterate through array using a counter
for ((i=0; i<${#arr[@]}; i++)); do
    #do something to each element of array
    echo "${arr[$i]}"
done

You can also do this for iteration of array:

for f in "${arr[@]}"; do
   echo "$f"
done

edited Sep 1, 2020 at 9:32

answered Feb 10, 2014 at 3:17

anubhava

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10 Comments

andypea Over a year ago

If you want to limit the number of times the for loop is run you could make the following ammendment: counter=10 for ((i=0; i<${#arr[@]} && i<counter; i++)); do

anubhava Over a year ago

Actually shopt -s nullglob can be used before array creation to avoid getting any false result.

anubhava Over a year ago

To match files with txt extension use arr=(~/myDir/*.txt) at top

anubhava Over a year ago

Then it is better to do cd myDir and then arr=(*.txt)

anubhava Over a year ago

@HenkPoley: Good point. I have added shopt -s nullglob for this.

|

Community · Accepted Answer · 2020-08-23 18:35:44Z

10

Your solution will work for generating the array. Instead of using a while loop, use a for loop:

#!/bin/bash
files=($( ls * )) #Add () to convert output to array
counter=0
for i in $files ; do
  echo Next: $i
  let counter=$counter+1
  echo $counter
done

edited Aug 23, 2020 at 18:35

CommunityBot

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answered Feb 10, 2014 at 3:20

Paul Hicks

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3 Comments

Paul Hicks Over a year ago

Use IFS to set the field separator in this case. So long as IFS doesn't include space, then you should be good.

Paul Hicks Over a year ago

OP didn't mention this as being part of the criteria :)

Avram Over a year ago

You are not supposed to use ls to iterate over files. ls * is redundant, * already means "all the files," and ls * will break if files have spaces in their names.

Ivan · Accepted Answer · 2020-08-23 19:26:52Z

1

# create an array with all the filer/dir inside ~/myDir
arr=(~/myDir/*)

# iterate through array indexes to get 'counter'
for counter in ${!arr[*]}; do
    echo $counter           # show index
    echo "${arr[counter]}"  # show value
done

answered Aug 23, 2020 at 19:26

Ivan

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