<x-y> globing pattern doesn't sort?

<x-y> globing pattern doesn't sort?

[Louis-David Mitterrand]

Hello,

I just tried that:

% bzcat ../patch-2.6.9-rc1.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk<1-19>.bz2<TAB>

and obtained:

bzcat ../patch-2.6.9-rc1.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk10.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk11.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk12.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk13.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk14.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk15.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk16.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk17.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk18.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk19.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk1.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk2.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk3.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk4.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk5.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk6.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk7.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk8.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk9.bz2

which really suprised my as I thought the whole point of the <-> pattern
was to allow for an ordered sequence to be returned (contrary to a
simple *).

Am I mistaken in that belief?

-- 
What influenced me to atheism was reading the Bible cover to cover.
Twice. -- J. Michael Straczynski

Re: <x-y> globing pattern doesn't sort?

[Oliver Kiddle]

Louis-David Mitterrand wrote:
> I just tried that:
> 
> % bzcat ../patch-2.6.9-rc1.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk<1-19>.bz2<TAB>
> 
> and obtained:
> 
> bzcat ../patch-2.6.9-rc1.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk10.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk11.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk12.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk13.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk14.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk15.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk16.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk17.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk18.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk19.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk1.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk2.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk3.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk4.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk5.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk6.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk7.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk8.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk9.bz2

Is it the order of the expansions that surprised you. It often helps us
understand a point like this if you state what you expected to obtain.

> which really suprised my as I thought the whole point of the <-> pattern
> was to allow for an ordered sequence to be returned (contrary to a
> simple *).
> 
> Am I mistaken in that belief?

<-> doesn't expand a sequence in order. Like *, it is just matching
filenames except it looks for a number within a range. Files are matched
and then sorted.

You could use {1..19} for an ordered expansion but that expands
unconditionally: there doesn't need to be existing files with each name
in the sequence.

Alternatively, you can use the (n) glob qualifier to sort the
expansions numerically:
  patch*(n)

Oliver

Re: <x-y> globing pattern doesn't sort?

[Peter Stephenson]

Louis-David Mitterrand wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I just tried that:
> 
> % bzcat ../patch-2.6.9-rc1.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk<1-19>.bz2<TAB>
> 
> and obtained:
> 
> bzcat ../patch-2.6.9-rc1.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk10.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-b
> k11.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk12.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk13.bz2 ../patch-2.6.
> 9-rc1-bk14.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk15.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk16.bz2 ../pat
> ch-2.6.9-rc1-bk17.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk18.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk19.bz2
>  ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk1.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk2.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk3
> .bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk4.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk5.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1
> -bk6.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk7.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk8.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9
> -rc1-bk9.bz2
> 
> which really suprised my as I thought the whole point of the <-> pattern
> was to allow for an ordered sequence to be returned (contrary to a
> simple *).
> 
> Am I mistaken in that belief?

Yes.  However, you can set the option numeric_glob_sort.  A quick test
suggests completion will obey this, which does what you want.  Note that
that's independent of how the matches were generated, however, so
replacing <1-19> with * wouldn't change the result.

-- 
Peter Stephenson <pws@csr.com>                  Software Engineer
CSR Ltd., Science Park, Milton Road,
Cambridge, CB4 0WH, UK                          Tel: +44 (0)1223 692070


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Re: <x-y> globing pattern doesn't sort?

[Louis-David Mitterrand]

On Mon, Sep 13, 2004 at 06:00:36PM +0200, Oliver Kiddle wrote:
> Louis-David Mitterrand wrote:
> > I just tried that:
> > 
> > % bzcat ../patch-2.6.9-rc1.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk<1-19>.bz2<TAB>
> > 
> > and obtained:
> > 
> > bzcat ../patch-2.6.9-rc1.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk10.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk11.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk12.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk13.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk14.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk15.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk16.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk17.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk18.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk19.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk1.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk2.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk3.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk4.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk5.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk6.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk7.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk8.bz2 ../patch-2.6.9-rc1-bk9.bz2
> 
> Is it the order of the expansions that surprised you. It often helps us
> understand a point like this if you state what you expected to obtain.

Right, I expected the list to be numerically sorted. Actually I now
understand <-> is a way to state a range and has nothing to do with
sorting.

> > which really suprised my as I thought the whole point of the <-> pattern
> > was to allow for an ordered sequence to be returned (contrary to a
> > simple *).
> > 
> > Am I mistaken in that belief?
> 
> <-> doesn't expand a sequence in order. Like *, it is just matching
> filenames except it looks for a number within a range. Files are matched
> and then sorted.
> 
> You could use {1..19} for an ordered expansion but that expands
> unconditionally: there doesn't need to be existing files with each name
> in the sequence.
> 
> Alternatively, you can use the (n) glob qualifier to sort the
> expansions numerically:
>	patch*(n)

Hey, thanks for these snippets. I learned two new tricks today.

Best regards,

-- 
Hi, I am an alien .sig, and at the moment I am having sex to your
mind, by looking at your smile I can see that you like it.

Re: <x-y> globing pattern doesn't sort?

[Louis-David Mitterrand]

On Mon, Sep 13, 2004 at 05:10:07PM +0100, Peter Stephenson wrote:
> > which really suprised my as I thought the whole point of the <-> pattern
> > was to allow for an ordered sequence to be returned (contrary to a
> > simple *).
> > 
> > Am I mistaken in that belief?
> 
> Yes.  However, you can set the option numeric_glob_sort.  A quick test
> suggests completion will obey this, which does what you want.  Note that
> that's independent of how the matches were generated, however, so
> replacing <1-19> with * wouldn't change the result.

Thanks for the explanation. As always: I had a dream, zsh had it