How can I check if file exists using patterns?

Question

I have a directory with full svn backups named like this:

name1.20100412.r9.bz2
name1.20100413.r10.bz2
name2.20100411.r101.bz2
name3.20100412.r102.bz2
...

I need to check if a backup file exists using name and revision number only. I tried test but it didn't work:

if [ -e name1.*.r9.bz2 ]; then echo exists; fi
[: too many arguments

How can I test if file exists?

Answer 1

You could do:

shopt -s nullglob
set -- name1.*.r9.bz2
if [ -n "$1" ]; then echo exists; fi

or

pattern="name1.*.r9.bz2"
if [ "$(echo $pattern)" != "$pattern" ]; then echo exists; fi

Edit: Added shopt -s nullglob.

Answer 2

A slight variation on eugene y's answer:

test "$(echo name1.*.r9.bz2)" != "name1.*.r9.bz2" && echo exists

Answer 3

Just check if the shell has expanded the pattern. This works in sh and bash:

pattern="name1.*.r9.bz2"

if [ "$(echo $pattern)" != "$pattern" ]; then
    echo exists
fi

P.S. If the pattern itself can be a valid filename, you can add a -e check:

if [ -e "$pattern" -o "$(echo $pattern)" != "$pattern" ]; then
    echo exists
fi

Answer 4

I would use:

if ls name1.*.r9.bz2 &> /dev/null ; then
  echo exists
fi

Answer 5

Related post: Check if a file exists with wildcard in shell script

It seems to have a good answer, using the return value of ls.

Answer 6

Try something like

FILES=(`ls name1.*.r9.bz2`)
if [ ${#FILES[@]} -gt 0 ]; then
  echo "Files!"
else
  echo "No Files"
fi