Bash case $var in multiple hits

Question

shopt -s extglob 
CONDITION1="@(*cheese*|*milk*|*cream*)"
CONDITION2="@(*potato*|*rice*|*pasta*)"

myvar1="pasta with cheese"

case ${myvar1} in
${CONDITION1} )
        echo DAIRY
        ;;
${CONDITION2} )
        echo CARBS
        ;;
* )
        echo HUNGRY
        ;;
esac

result of this script is echo DAIRY

I need to change above code so it echoes: DIARY CARBS

Is that possible?

`${foo}` adds nothing over `$foo` in your use cases here. – Charles Duffy Apr 11 '14 at 00:22 — Charles Duffy, Apr 11 '14 at 00:22

Charles Duffy · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-11T00:19:58.993

2

Use ;;& instead of ;; if you want this behaviour.

That said, fall-through behavior will mean that you get HUNGRY unconditionally. I'd suggest setting a flag on matches and checking for it before emitting HUNGRY.

So:

myvar1="pasta with cheese"; matched=0
case $myvar1 in
  *cheese*|*milk*|*cream*)
     echo DAIRY; matched=1 ;;&
  *potato*|*rick*|*pasta*)
     echo CARBS; matched=1 ;;&
esac
(( matched )) || echo HUNGRY

That said, it would be easy enough to make this code compliant with POSIX sh by splitting into multiple case statements (and, again, not using extglobs):

myvar1="pasta with cheese"; unset matched
case $myvar1 in *cheese*|*milk*|*cream*) echo DAIRY; matched=1 ;; esac
case $myvar1 in *potato*|*rick*|*pasta*) echo CARBS; matched=1 ;; esac
[ "$matched" ] || echo HUNGRY

edited Apr 11 '14 at 00:19

answered Apr 11 '14 at 00:13

Charles Duffy

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2

But note that `;;&` does not exist in bash before version 4. – dg99 Apr 11 '14 at 00:16
;;& is cool! :) To avoid being HUNGRY, can't I just put it everywhere but not infront of *)? I tested it and it works. Anyway, you offered alternative code solution, I will have to think if I can use it with many different CONDITION variables. – Viktor Apr 13 '14 at 17:58

Bash case $var in multiple hits

1 Answers1