Question

I am trying to loop through files in a specified directory. But I can’t seem to figure out the logic. I am looping through each file and asking if they want to delete that file.

#!/bin/bash
dirpath=$1
y=y
Y=Y
echo "changing directory '$dirpath' `cd $dirpath`"

for f in $1/*
do
#####################################
if test -f `ls -1 $1`
then
echo -n "remove file '$f' `ls -1` ?"
read answer
##########################
if test $answer = $y || test $answer = $Y
then

  echo "Processing $f file..."
  echo `rm $f`
    echo "file '$f' deleted "
else
echo "file '$f' not removed"

  fi#2nd if loop
############################  
else
echo 'not a file'
  fi#1st if loop
#######################################

done

Answer 1

There’s no need for ls, you already have the filename. Change this:

if test -f `ls -1 $1`

to:

if test -f "$f"

Why are you using echo and backticks here? Change

echo `rm $f`

to:

rm "$f"

Here’s another place you’re using backticks unnecessarily. Change this:

echo "changing directory '$dirpath' `cd $dirpath`"

to:

echo "changing directory '$dirpath'"
cd "$dirpath"

Always quote variables that contain filenames.