Getting file count in a variable

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

Hi All

I am checking for the presence of certain no of files in a directory. Only if the required no of files are present should I continue with my processing.

For e.g. in the temp directory below, there are 4 files of the format sample_aa(bb)(cc)(dd)_test. I need to check the count of these four before continuing. Trying something like the below:

cd /temp
for i in aa bb cc dd
do
fname=$(ls sample_${i}_test | wc -l)
if [ $fname -eq 4 ]
then
echo "There are "$fname" files present in temp"
fi
done

When I echo $fname , I get the value of 1 for each of the four files. I need to check for the value of 4 which it holds at the end of the loop basically. Thanks in advance.

2 
for i in aa bb cc dd
do
  fname="${fname} sample_${i}_test"
done
cd /temp
if [[ $(ls -l ${fname} | wc -l) -eq 4 ]]; then
  echo "${fname} files are available in /temp"
fi
3

Your if statement is embedded within your for loop, that's your problem. So your ${fname} variable will change each time you iterate over the variables in your for loop. The if statement should be performed after the for loop.

4

Thank you both for your help. It worked with some minor tweaking to @SriniShoo's code

5

Assuming you are using a shell that accepts POSIX standard arithmetic expansions, a more direct approach would be something like:

cd /temp    # Did you really mean /tmp???
fcnt=0
for i in aa bb cc dd
do      if [ -e "sample_${i}_test" ]
        then    fcnt=$((fcnt + 1))
        fi
done
if [ $fcnt -eq 4 ]
then    echo "There are $fcnt files present in /temp"
else    echo "There are only $fcnt files present in /temp; try again later."
        exit 1
fi
echo 'Continue processing...'
6

Hello,

Following may help.

ls -ltr | awk '/test_testaa|bb|cc.txt/ {a++} END{ {if(a > 3) {print "files have been found."} else {print "files have not been found."}} }'

Thanks,
R. Singh

7

If you're going to use this method, you need to add a cd to get into the correct directory; you don't need the ls options, and the ERE in awk is wrong for the specified files. The following would work (but would be less efficient than using shell built-ins as shown in previous suggestions):

cd /temp;ls | awk '/^sample_(aa|bb|cc|dd)_test$/ {a++} END{if(a > 3) print "files have been found."; else print "files have not been found."}'
8

@Don,

The value of fcnt is getting reset to 0 immediately after the for loop

cd /temp    # This was actually /tmp
fcnt=0
for i in aa bb cc dd
do      if [ -e "sample_${i}_test" ]
        then    fcnt=$((fcnt + 1))
        fi
done
echo $fcnt # This has a value of 0
if [ $fcnt -eq 4 ]
then    echo "There are $fcnt files present in /temp"
else    echo "There are only $fcnt files present in /temp; try again later." #Says 0 files present even though there are files
        exit 1
fi
echo 'Continue processing...'

Also, is there a way to alert the user by echoing the missing file(s)?

Thanks for your help

9

Are you cd (changing directory) to the correct directory? The wrong directory will not have the files you expect.

Add an else clause after the if test:

if [ -e "sample_${i}_test" ]
        then    fcnt=$((fcnt + 1))
else
       echo "sample_${i}_test is not present"
fi
10

I am in the right directory and the files are indeed present there. But when I run, I get the message below:

sample_aa_test is not present
sample_bb_test is not present
sample_cc_test is not present
sample_dd_test is not present
0
There are only 0 files present in /temp.

:confused:

11

Would you mind to post the output of this command?

ls -l /temp/sample_[abcd]*
12

Here it is:

-rw-r--r--    1 prd tadmin            17 May 27 08:12 /temp/sample_aa_test
-rw-r--r--    1 prd tadmin            17 May 27 08:12 /temp/sample_bb_test
-rw-r--r--    1 prd tadmin            17 May 27 08:13 /temp/sample_cc_test
-rw-r--r--    1 prd tadmin            17 May 27 08:13 /temp/sample_dd_test
13

For debugging purposes add this line below cd /temp

echo $PWD

Please, run the code again and post the output

14

please show us the output from the command:

ls /temp/sample_*|od -cb
15

Here is the output from ls /temp/sample_*|od -cb

0000000    /   t   e   m   p   /   s   a   m   p   l   e   _   a   a   _   t
         057 164  145 155 160 057 163 141 155 160 154 145 137 141 141 137 164
0000020    e   s   t  \n   /   t   e    m   p   /   s   a   m   p   l   e   _
         145 163 164 012 057 164  145  155 160 057 163 141 155 160 154 145 137
0000040    b   b   _   t   e   s   t  \n   /   t   e   m   p   /   s   a   m
         142 142 137 164 145 163 164 012 057 164  145 155 160 057 163 141 155
0000060    p   l   e   _   c   c   _   t   e   s   t  \n   /   t   e   m   p
         160 154 145 137 143 143 137 164 145 163 164 012 057 164  145 155 160
0000100    /   s   a   m   p   l   e   _   d   d   _   t   e   s   t  \n
         057 163 141 155 160 154 145 137 144 144 137 164 145 163 164 012
0000120

Pls let me know what can be inferred from the above

16

We have now determined that there are no spaces, tabs, or carriage return characters at the ends of the filenames and that there are no embedded control characters in the middle of the filenames.

What operating system are you using?

What shell are you using?

What do you get when you run the updated script:

#!/bin/ksh
set -xv
cd /temp    # This was actually /tmp
fcnt=0
for i in aa bb cc dd
do      if [ -e "sample_${i}_test" ]
        then    fcnt=$((fcnt + 1))
        else    echo "sample_${i}_test missing"
        fi
done
if [ $fcnt -eq 4 ]
then    echo "There are $fcnt files present in /temp"
else    echo "There are only $fcnt files present in /temp; try again later."
        exit 1
fi
echo 'Continue processing...'

What did you mean by the comment shown in red above? Are these files in /temp or in /tmp?

17

I am using Korn Shell and running this on AIX 5.3. The files are under /temp (created for the purpose of testing) itself

18

I repeat, please run the updated script shown in post #16 in this thread and show us the output. We need to see the trace output to figure out what is going on.