Question

I have multiple filenames that look something like;

com.test.app1.deb

com.heavy.test.app2.deb

com.maybe-test.app3.deb

com.crazy.app-4.deb

I would like to get the bolded strings only.
so far, I’ve got this,

name=$(echo $file | sed 's!\(*.\)\(.*\).deb!\2!')

EDIT:
I have other files in the same dir that would name something like;

com.company.name_1.0.2_arm.deb

Currently, my code looks like;

for file in *.deb; do
 name=$(echo "$file" | sed 's/^.*\.\([^.][^.]*\)\.deb$/\1/')
 echo $name
done

Answer 1

You want negative matching so you can exclude dots from the part of the string that you want to capture. I also anchored the string so that you don’t get a nasty surprise on a name like com.deboop.foo.deb.

name=$(echo "$file" | sed 's/^.*\.\([^.][^.]*\)\(_[-.0-9][-.0-9]*_arm\)*\.deb$/\1/')

(edited to reflect comments)