From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG  Thu Sep 20 11:28:15 2012
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BF0B6106564A
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Thu, 20 Sep 2012 11:28:15 +0000 (UTC)
	(envelope-from martin@dc.cis.okstate.edu)
Received: from x.it.okstate.edu (x.it.okstate.edu [139.78.2.13])
	by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8FF098FC08
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Thu, 20 Sep 2012 11:28:15 +0000 (UTC)
Received: from dc.cis.okstate.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1])
	by x.it.okstate.edu (8.14.5/8.14.5) with ESMTP id q8KBSEGF037435
	for <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>;
	Thu, 20 Sep 2012 06:28:14 -0500 (CDT)
	(envelope-from martin@dc.cis.okstate.edu)
Message-Id: <201209201128.q8KBSEGF037435@x.it.okstate.edu>
cc: FreeBSD Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2012 06:28:14 -0500
From: Martin McCormick <martin@dc.cis.okstate.edu>
Subject: Re: bash Shell Scripting Question
X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5
Precedence: list
List-Id: User questions <freebsd-questions.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-questions>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions>, 
	<mailto:freebsd-questions-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2012 11:28:15 -0000

Many thanks! The for loop was what was needed.

Polytropon writes:
> Just a sidenote: If you're not using bash-specific functionality
> and intend to make your script portable, use #!/bin/sh instead.

I always start out that way for that very reason. I needed some
random number functions and arithmetic for another part of the
script so I ended up going to bash.

> > while read dirname; do
> 
> Attention: "dirname" (/usr/bin/dirname) is a binary!

You are so correct!  Thank you.

Continuing;

> Correct. You could use different approaches which may or may
> not fail due to the directory names you will encounter (like
> directories with spaces or special characters).

In this application, all the directories will be
non-problematic, but point well taken.

> 
>         #!/bin/sh
>         for DIR in `ls -LF | grep \/`; do
>                 cd ${DIR}
>                 # do stuff
>         done

That works perfectly. Again many thanks.