[NTLUG:Discuss] Script question: give me the next sequential filename....

[Jack Snodgrass]

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 10:23:19 -0600, Michael Farnham wrote:

> On Monday 31 March 2003 09:41, Jack Snodgrass wrote:
>> I need to create a log. It needs to be called
>> makefile.yymmdd-x where
>> makefile.yymmdd can be done with something like
>> makefile.`date +DATE: '%y%m%d`
>>
>> ...now the catch... the first time I run this today, I want
>> makefile.030331-1
>> the next time I want
>> makefile.030331-2
>> and then
>> makefile.030331-3
>> etc.
>>
> 
> Something like this should work
> 
> #!/bin/bash
> 
> declare -i n
> pattern=makefile.`date +'%y%m%d'`-
> n=`ls -1 $pattern | wc -l`
> n=n+1
> pattern=$pattern$n
> echo $pattern
> exit 0
> 
> HTH
> Mike Farnham

thanks... I needed to use 
n=`ls -1 $pattern* 2>/dev/null | wc -l`
instead of your line as-is but other than that, it works great. 
The * was needed or it didn't work well at all. The 2> /dev/null
hides the "file not found" error the first time it's run. 

Thanks again - jack