* is there a way to use *.{txt,zip,tbz,dmg} if one or more might be missing?
@ 2019-07-07 23:27 TJ Luoma
2019-07-08 0:10 ` Bart Schaefer
0 siblings, 1 reply; 4+ messages in thread
From: TJ Luoma @ 2019-07-07 23:27 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: zsh-users
This seems like one of those things that I might have not learned that
everyone else knows, so I thought I'd ask.
I can use this:
mv -vn *.{txt,zip,tbz,dmg} ~/dir/
to move all files that end with zip/txt/tbz/dmg to ~/dir/
BUT it will fail if it does not find at least one file with each of
those extensions.
Is there a way to do basically the same thing, but tell `mv` "if is at
least one file with any of these extensions, then move to ~/dir/" ?
I suppose I could use `find` with various `-o` flags, but I was
wondering if there was an easier way.
Thanks!
Tj
--
TJ Luoma
TJ @ MacStories
Personal Website: luo.ma (aka RhymesWithDiploma.com)
Twitter: @tjluoma
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread
* Re: is there a way to use *.{txt,zip,tbz,dmg} if one or more might be missing?
2019-07-07 23:27 is there a way to use *.{txt,zip,tbz,dmg} if one or more might be missing? TJ Luoma
@ 2019-07-08 0:10 ` Bart Schaefer
2019-07-08 10:44 ` Peter Stephenson
0 siblings, 1 reply; 4+ messages in thread
From: Bart Schaefer @ 2019-07-08 0:10 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: TJ Luoma; +Cc: Zsh Users
On Sun, Jul 7, 2019 at 4:28 PM TJ Luoma <luomat@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Is there a way to do basically the same thing, but tell `mv` "if is at
> least one file with any of these extensions, then move to ~/dir/" ?
Use an alternation pattern instead of brace expansion:
mv -vn *.(txt|zip|tbz|dmg) ~/dir/
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread
* Re: is there a way to use *.{txt,zip,tbz,dmg} if one or more might be missing?
2019-07-08 0:10 ` Bart Schaefer
@ 2019-07-08 10:44 ` Peter Stephenson
2019-07-08 12:14 ` Mikael Magnusson
0 siblings, 1 reply; 4+ messages in thread
From: Peter Stephenson @ 2019-07-08 10:44 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: zsh-users
On Sun, 2019-07-07 at 17:10 -0700, Bart Schaefer wrote:
> On Sun, Jul 7, 2019 at 4:28 PM TJ Luoma <luomat@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Is there a way to do basically the same thing, but tell `mv` "if is at
> > least one file with any of these extensions, then move to ~/dir/" ?
> Use an alternation pattern instead of brace expansion:
>
> mv -vn *.(txt|zip|tbz|dmg) ~/dir/
I'm surprised to see I never added this to the FAQ. It's getting
quite hard to search, though...
pws
diff --git a/Etc/FAQ.yo b/Etc/FAQ.yo
index c4f65e97a..a8d88ec7c 100644
--- a/Etc/FAQ.yo
+++ b/Etc/FAQ.yo
@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@ Chapter 3: How to get various things to work
3.27. What are these `^' and `~' pattern characters, anyway?
3.28. How do I edit the input buffer in $EDITOR?
3.29. Why does `which' output for missing commands go to stdout?
+3.30. Why doesn't the expansion mytt(foo.{tex,aux,pdf}) do what I expect?
Chapter 4: The mysteries of completion
4.1. What is completion?
@@ -1995,6 +1996,44 @@ sect(Why does `which' output for missing commands go to stdout?)
the exit status does reflect the fact the command can't be found.
+sect(Why doesn't the expansion mytt(*.{tex,aux,pdf}) do what I expect?)
+
+ Based on the behaviour of some other shells, you might guess that the
+ following expression:
+ verb(
+ echo *.{tex,aux,pdf}
+ )
+ would be the way to echo any files ending in mytt(.tex), mytt(.aux) or
+ mytt(.pdf) in the current directory. Depending on your settings for
+ matching (see link(2.1)(21), in particular tt(NO_NOMATCH)), you may
+ see something else, in particular an error about (say) mytt(*.aux) if
+ there were no files ending mytt(.aux).
+
+ The reason for this is that the brace expansion isn't actually
+ a form of pattern matching. Instead, the line above is equivalent to
+ verb(
+ echo *.tex *.aux *.pdf
+ )
+ giving you three separate patterns. With the default mytt(NOMATCH)
+ behaviour in effect, any pattern that fails to match is an error.
+
+ However, there em(is) a way of doing exactly what you want, using
+ parentheses instead of braces:
+ verb(
+ echo *.(tex|aux|pdf)
+ )
+ This is now a pattern matching expression, so is considered as a
+ single pattern. Now any file that exists will supress the
+ mytt(NOMATCH) behaviour, but you'll still get all the files that do
+ match.
+
+ This use of parentheses is special to zsh. Modern Bourne-like shells
+ have a syntax like this, too, but with an mytt(@) in front of the
+ parentheses: again, see link(2.1)(21), and search for mytt(@+LPAR()).
+ This is harder for the user to remember but easier for the shell to
+ parse!
+
+
chapter(The mysteries of completion)
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread
* Re: is there a way to use *.{txt,zip,tbz,dmg} if one or more might be missing?
2019-07-08 10:44 ` Peter Stephenson
@ 2019-07-08 12:14 ` Mikael Magnusson
0 siblings, 0 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: Mikael Magnusson @ 2019-07-08 12:14 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Peter Stephenson; +Cc: zsh-users
On 7/8/19, Peter Stephenson <p.stephenson@samsung.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 2019-07-07 at 17:10 -0700, Bart Schaefer wrote:
>> On Sun, Jul 7, 2019 at 4:28 PM TJ Luoma <luomat@gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> > Is there a way to do basically the same thing, but tell `mv` "if is at
>> > least one file with any of these extensions, then move to ~/dir/" ?
>> Use an alternation pattern instead of brace expansion:
>>
>> mv -vn *.(txt|zip|tbz|dmg) ~/dir/
>
> I'm surprised to see I never added this to the FAQ. It's getting
> quite hard to search, though...
>
> pws
>
> diff --git a/Etc/FAQ.yo b/Etc/FAQ.yo
> index c4f65e97a..a8d88ec7c 100644
> --- a/Etc/FAQ.yo
> +++ b/Etc/FAQ.yo
> @@ -128,6 +128,7 @@ Chapter 3: How to get various things to work
> 3.27. What are these `^' and `~' pattern characters, anyway?
> 3.28. How do I edit the input buffer in $EDITOR?
> 3.29. Why does `which' output for missing commands go to stdout?
> +3.30. Why doesn't the expansion mytt(foo.{tex,aux,pdf}) do what I expect?
This part should probably say * too, not foo.
--
Mikael Magnusson
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2019-07-08 12:15 UTC | newest]
Thread overview: 4+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
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2019-07-07 23:27 is there a way to use *.{txt,zip,tbz,dmg} if one or more might be missing? TJ Luoma
2019-07-08 0:10 ` Bart Schaefer
2019-07-08 10:44 ` Peter Stephenson
2019-07-08 12:14 ` Mikael Magnusson
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