hi i'm new to shell scripts and have a small problem
i am running a batch converter that returns all flash .flv files in a directory and create a png image from each one
the problem i have is the $1 variable , its ok on the first call but on the secound call $1.png , i have extra characrters that i need to strip from this element
for example on the first call of $1 it produces 997.flv on the secound call $1.png and outputs a resulting 997.flv.png
i need to strip the .flv part from 997.flv.png to return only 997.png (strip 4 characters from the end of $1 on its secound call - this whould be the same on all resulting files in a directory full of files as this shell script runs)
how can i do this, is it easy or is it complex, any help with this issue would be very usefull, i have tryed searching google, but can not fing out how to strip characters from a varablie in shell scripts
thanks in advance