It seems I jumped the gun again. This doesn't accomplish what I had hoped. I went home for lunch and looked at my script and realized that's not what I wanted.. I'll explain a bit more. I have a script that takes user input. The user input is $2 because initially the script requires a command which is $1 looks like this: #>script command input Currently I'm working on the status command. When I type script status input I want it to search for whatever I put in as input.. #>script status mysql It then searches /var/log/packages for mysql, but it is actually mysql-3.23.52-i386-1 Once it finds this, I need it to put that full name back into another variable That way I can cat /var/log/packages/$VARIABLE I tried doing PACKAGE=`ls /var/log/packages | grep $2` it comes back saying there are too many commands in my if statement or grep displays its help menu... I tried doing if [ -f /var/log/packages/$2* ]; then PACKAGE=`ls /var/log/packages | grep $2` echo $PACKAGE fi but it either says I have a problem : ]: with my if statement or grep displays its help menu. Any ideas? How can I accomplish this? On Friday 30 August 2002 09:18 am, Nathan England wrote: > I want to search a directory for a file name and throw it into a variable. > Such as: > > /var/log/packages/mysql-3.23.51-i386-1 > > I want to type in just mysql and have it create a variable for > mysql-3.23.51-i386-1 > > I was trying > ls /var/log/packages | grep mysql > but from there don't know how to get it into a variable > > And > VARIABLE='ls /var/log/packages | grep mysql' > doesn't work either. > > I have a script that searches for whatever I tell it. > > myscript something > > Something is a variable, but I type in a partial name, like mysql and it > searches and prints the full name in the variable which would be $1 or $2 > or $3 whatever... > > How do I accomplish this in bash? > > nathan > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss