Regexp for matching filenames

Question

I have a files:

first.error.log
second1.log
second2.log
FFFpc.log
TR.den.log
bla.error.log

and I would like to make a pattern that will match all files with error inside of filenames + few additional ones but no more:

For a sole error it would be

 $FILE_PATTERN="*.error*"

But what if I want to match not only those errors but also all second and FFpc etc?

This does not work:

$FILE_PATTERN="*.error*|^second.*\log$|.*FFPC\.log$"

Thanks in advance for your help

EDIT:

$FILE_PATTERN is later used by:

find /somefolder -type f -name $FILE_PATTERN

EDIT: THIS FILE_PATTERN is in property file that is later used by bash script.

I don't understand what you want to match. You're using a mishmash of regex and wildcards without explanation, it's a terrible idea for conveying intent. If you used proper regex it would work (`.` means one character, `.*` means a string, `\.` means a dot). — Blindy, Aug 06 '14 at 14:16

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 06 '14 at 14:28

2

You need to use find with -regex option:

find -E /somefolder -type f -regex '\./(.*\.error.*|second.*log|.*FFPC\.log)$'

PS: Use -iregex for ignore case matching:

find -E /somefolder -type f -iregex '\./(.*\.error.*|second.*log|.*FFPC\.log)$'

answered Aug 06 '14 at 14:28

anubhava

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`-E` is for extended regular expression. – anubhava Aug 06 '14 at 14:32
1

I see. GNU `find` doesn't have it I think. With GNU, you do it with `-regextype ` where type can be `findutils-default`, `awk`, `egrep`, `ed`, `emacs`, `gnu-awk`, `grep`, `posix-awk`, `posix-basic`, `posix-egrep`, `posix-extended`, `posix-minimal-basic`, `sed`. – konsolebox Aug 06 '14 at 14:38
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@konsolebox: Many thanks for adding note about `gnu find`. I was on OSX so couldn't test it using `gnu` version of `find`. – anubhava Aug 06 '14 at 14:40
Actually, the main problem was that -name in a find command instead of -regex, after I changed it everything else went smoothly, thanks! – Mateusz Chrzaszcz Aug 06 '14 at 15:10
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Yes that is true @MateuszChrzaszcz. What you has was indeed a regex pattern not a glob pattern. – anubhava Aug 06 '14 at 15:13

Hemang · Answer 2 · 2014-08-06T14:25:19.667

1

$ ls | grep -i '\(.*error.*\)\|\(^second.*\log$\)\|\(.*FFPC\.log$\)'
bla.error.log
FFFpc.log
first.error.log
second1.log
second2.log

If you wanted to use with find

find /somefolder -type f | grep -i '\(.*error.*\)\|\(^second.*\log$\)\|\(.*FFPC\.log$\)'

edited Aug 06 '14 at 14:25

answered Aug 06 '14 at 14:17

Hemang

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Why the escaped parenthesis? – Blindy Aug 06 '14 at 14:19
@Blindy Refer to http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3673594/how-to-escape-braces-in-grep – Hemang Aug 06 '14 at 14:22
Oh interesting, I only use it from inside C# :) – Blindy Aug 06 '14 at 14:24
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@Hemang I think if you used `egrep` you wouldn't have to escape all the parens and pipes – skamazin Aug 06 '14 at 14:30

skamazin · Answer 3 · 2014-08-06T14:27:31.893

If you're in bash I'm assuming you have to grep. Using grep -E or egrep will allow you to use alternation (ORing your searches)

$ stat * | egrep "(error|second)"
File: `first.error.log'
File: `second1.log'
File: `second2.log'

You could use ls instead of stat but sometimes ls will not give you what you predicted. But considering you're only search for filenames, ls should suffice.

$ ls | egrep "(error|second)"
first.error.log
second1.log
second2.log

You can use command substitution to store the output into a bash variable:

FILE_PATTERN=$(ls | egrep "(error|second)")

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 06 '14 at 14:36

1

FILE_PATTERN=("*.error*" "second.*log" ".*FFPC.log")
ARGS=(-name "$FILE_PATTERN")
for F in "${FILE_PATTERN[@]:2}"; do
    ARGS+=(-o -name "$F")
done
find /somefolder -type f '(' "${ARGS[@]}" ')'

answered Aug 06 '14 at 14:36

konsolebox

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score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 06 '14 at 14:18

0

You were close, theres just a few misplaced symbols.

Here's what I came up with:

.*\.error\..*|^second.*\.log$|.*FF[Pp][Cc]\.log$

here's a demo of a working modification of your regex: http://regex101.com/r/rL3rM1/1

answered Aug 06 '14 at 14:18

Adam Yost

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Regexp for matching filenames

5 Answers5